Sanctuary
by Venotica
Summary: Daryl Dixon has always had a problem with losing people from his life, even before the apocalypse. But he never thought that he would lose her. Separated from the woman he loves, Daryl must try to find a sanctuary from this living hell. Just as she tries to do the same. Daryl/OC. *spoilers!* You must be caught up on all current seasons of the Walking Dead.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

A/N: This story starts in the middle of season three, just after Lori has passed away, and will continue on beyond what we have seen so far in the show. There are plenty of Spoilers, so readers beware! I do recommend you have watched at least through season three before reading this. Well, here goes nothing! Enoy!

DARYL

Daryl walked out from the prison to one of the picnic tables set outside the prison. He sighed, and ran a hand through his hair before sitting on top of the table and looking out towards the area outside the prison fences. There were some walkers along the fence, but not many. They would be easy to take out. When they had found the prison, Daryl had been convinced that things would get easier from here on out. But now he wasn't sure. They had lost Lori, along with T-Dog and Carol. And now they had a baby to take care of. Daryl had gone on a run to get supplies for her, but they wouldn't last long. Someone would have to go out again soon. On top of the baby and Lori's death, Rick seemed like he was slipping. This wasn't something Daryl could have anticipated. Rick had seemed so secure before, their leader. Now, it seemed like Daryl would have to step up while Rick mourned Lori.

Daryl could understand. He understood completely. The only thing keeping him from slipping away was the thought that somehow, someway, she had survived.

Even thinking about her made Daryl's head buzz and his heart fill with an inexplicable emptiness. He thought about the last time he had seen her. Standing on top of the RV as the farm burned, her blonde hair turned orange with the light of the flames. The RV had been surrounded by walkers. Completely surrounded. As soon as he had seen where she was, he had known there were too many. He didn't have enough arrows, ammunition, or brute strength to save her from the horde surrounding the RV. His Annabelle.

He had tried. He had promised her that he would keep her safe. He had to try. But as soon as he got near the RV, Annabelle had screamed at him. Screamed and told him to leave. To do something she knew he wasn't able to do. He had known she was right. There were so many of them. But he couldn't accept it. He had paced furiously, yards away, looking for a break in their line, anything that might let him create enough of an opening that she could jump and run. But there was nothing. Just masses of walkers.

He shook his head, trying to rid himself of the memory, but the images were burned in his mind. Her yelling at him to run and leave her. The only reason he had left was because Carol was waiting by his bike. And because Ruby had run up moments before. The sight of her sister on top of the RV had sent the spitfire brunette into a rage. She had charged at the horde, and fired several shots. Seeing Ruby run at the massive group of them had woken Daryl up. He ran forward and grabbed her, stopping her from running into certain death. He had locked eyes with Annabelle, who nodded to him. Ruby had started screaming. The most heartbroken, wailing cries that Daryl had heard. And Daryl's heart had broken too. She fought him and screamed, kicked at him and hit him until she had collapsed in his arms, and her screams turned to sobs that wracked her body. He had talked to her, got her to stand and had walked her to his motorcycle. He hadn't realized until he had started driving his motorcycle and he felt the cold dampness on his face that he had been crying too.

The only reason he thought that she might have survived is because of something that Rick had said when they all met up later. Apparently, he had seen her jump off the RV. She had gone to one side, to lure some of the walkers that way, and then had sprinted, leaped and cleared the smaller ring of walkers. But that was the last Rick had seen of her before she vanished into the sea of geeks.

Daryl had wanted to go back. But Rick had talked him into waiting. They had waited for her for several hours. When she didn't come, they all agreed that she was either dead, or far away at this point. Ruby had contested and fought their decision. Daryl didn't have the heart to say a word.

They had run all winter, and Daryl had hoped. With every door they broke down, every house they hid in. He hoped she would be waiting inside for him, and that she'd be safe in his arms again. That she would smile at him like she always did, and say his name. But she was never there. And every day that went by beat on him. But he kept going, kept surviving. He needed to. If she was out there, he needed to find her. And if she wasn't… Daryl tried not to think about that.

Daryl switched his mind to a different subject. The prison. He knew he had to step up and fill Rick's role, if only temporarily. It wasn't going to be enjoyable. He had just lost Carol too, now. The woman had been through so much, before and during the apocalypse. He respected her, and had developed a close bond with her. And she was gone. She had been alive, and then some asshole had decided to take it upon himself to enact 'justice'. After losing Carol, Lori, and T-Dog all in one day, Daryl couldn't help but to feel somewhat crushed. It seemed like no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't stop them from dying. He couldn't stop people from vanishing from his life. This fact had haunted him before the apocalypse, and now during it too, it seemed.

He was disturbed from his thoughts when a familiar voice broke the silence.

"Well hey there, handsome. Come here often?"

Daryl turned his head to see Ruby standing there, hands on her hips. He smirked at her words. "Every now and again." He replied.

The brunette was nothing like her sister. The only things they had in common were their good looks and accent. Ruby was a free spirit, to say the least. She was louder than her sister, rambunctious, and swore like a sailor. He supposed out of the two sisters, most people would assume that Daryl would end up with Ruby. After all, they were much more similar than he and Annabelle were. Daryl admired Ruby's spunk. But he had sold his heart to her sister years ago.

Ruby walked up and sat beside him on the table, and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. She handed him one, and lit one herself.

"We're gonna have to deal with those walkers." Daryl said simply to Ruby. She nodded in agreement.

"I'll help you later, if you want. I can take someone to clear the fence, and you can clear out solitary confinement." She replied. "I think Glen and Maggie are gonna go on a run."

"For the little asskicker?" Daryl responded after taking a drag on the cigarette.

Ruby laughed slightly. "That, and some other things. Nice name you've come up with."

"I think it's appropriate." He replied.

Ruby smiled distantly. There was silence between them for a few moments before Ruby spoke. "We can look for her. Once we settle in here. We can go search."

Daryl was silent. He didn't want to talk about her. Saying her name out loud hurt too much. "Yeah, ok." He finally replied. He wanted nothing more than to search for Annabelle, and find her safe and sound. But part of Daryl was afraid to go and look, and discover the truth of what had happened to the girl he loved.

"Do you think she's still out there?" Ruby asked Daryl after several moments of hesitation. Daryl nodded his head in response to her question. "How are you so sure?" She asked him.

"Because I have to be." He responded. Daryl refused to believe anything else. Losing Annabelle wasn't an option for him. She was what kept him going through all of this. The thought that somewhere, she was out there waiting for him.

"I wish I was as sure as you are." Ruby responded. "I just... It's been so long. And she's alone."

Daryl flicked his cigarette away and stood from the table. "She should've never been out there alone. I shouldn't have left her there. I should've stayed with her." With that, Daryl departed the table and began walking back toward the cell blocks.

"It's not your fault this happened, Daryl." Ruby called after him. "There was nothing any of us could do."

Daryl stopped for a moment and glanced back at Ruby before shaking his head and walking away.

He stalked inside of the prison and paced back and forth for a moment, steadying himself. He shouldn't let himself get so riled up about the subject, but he couldn't help it. They had been through so much, the two of them. He hadn't seen Annabelle for eight years before the apocalypse happened. Eight years. He had accepted he was never going to see her again. And then, just when things went from bad to worse, there she was. She appeared in his life again. He'd finally had her, and he'd promised to keep her safe. And then she was lost to him again. He'd lost so many people. He never intended to lose her.

Daryl finally calmed himself and walked forward into the cell block, deciding to check in on Beth and the Little Ass-Kicker.

He made his way to the area that had been created as the baby's makeshift play area until they got actual supplies for the baby. Beth was sitting on the bed in the cell, making soft cooing noises to the baby. She looked up at him and smiled when he walked in.

"She just woke up." Beth told him. "You have great timing." She stood and brought the child to him, and gently placed the tiny bundle in his arms.

She was so little. So tiny. Daryl hadn't been around a baby in a long time before this, let alone a newborn. She opened up her mouth in the tiniest yawn and made a squeaking sound before she reached up a hand toward Daryl's face. He offered her one of his fingers, and she gripped onto it tightly and continued to look up at him with wide, curious eyes.

"She likes you a lot." Beth commented as she walked up to stand beside him. "She probably remembers you were the first person to feed her."

"She's so little." Was all he said.

"She'll grow fast, just wait and see." Beth responded. She was silent for a moment, before she started to talk again. "Rick… Do you know what's happening with him?"

"He'll be fine. He's just dealing with a lot right now. But he'll be okay."

"Do you really believe that?" Beth asked him. She crossed her arms over her chest and moved closer to Daryl and lowered her voice. "He hasn't even come to see her. The baby. His own daughter."

Daryl shifted uncomfortably and glanced down at the baby and then back to Beth. "Losing Lori… It was hard on him. He's just trying to deal with that. He'll be back to normal soon, don't worry."

"I hope so." Beth replied. "She needs her father. Carl's been here, but she needs her dad."

"He'll come around. He just needs a little time is all."

"You should be leading us." Beth said to Daryl. Daryl looked at her, trying to hide his shock at her statement.

"Rick's gonna be just fine. We don't need to go around making changes. Everything'll be fine."

Beth looked at him like she didn't believe him, but the last thing they needed right now was for the group's morale to be shaken by this recent turn of events. He'd hold everything together for Rick for now. But if he didn't come back from his trip to crazy town, Daryl knew that his current position as the leader of the group may in fact become a permanent change.

* * *

Daryl walked through the cell block with Carl and Oscar behind him. They were making sure there were no more walkers left lurking around where they could bite someone. Maggie and Glen had left to go get supplies, and Ruby was with Axel clearing some walkers along the fence. They passed a door which was faintly moving. A single body was keeping it shut. Whatever was in there didn't have very much fight. They could get it later.

He walked along the hall, and looked to the young boy standing on his left. He hadn't seemed like more than a scrap when he had first met him, and now he was clearing walkers while his dad was off doing god knows what. Funny how things change. Daryl knew what it was like to lose your mother. He had lost his when he was young, too. She had been the parent that had taken care of him, mostly. She didn't do much. Especially compared to Carl's mother. But she was his mom. He still remembered it vividly. He had been twelve years old.

He started to tell Carl the story. It had been such a nice day out. He had been out, playing with the other kids for once. When Merle was around, he only ever hung out with Merle. But with Merle in the Juvenile detention center again, he was actually out and about.

"They all had bikes, I didn't." He explained to Carl. His parents had never really bothered with gifts or anything like that. "They all chased the sirens, hoping to see something worth seeing. I couldn't keep up. When I finally got there, it was my house that was in flames. There were fire trucks everywhere. All my friends were looking at me. Everyone was looking at me, really."

She had been there. Annabelle. She was standing with her father mother, and sister. They had seen the flames from their house and had been the ones to call 911. She had been standing at his father's side, and he had one arm protectively around the shoulders of each of his daughter's. Ruby was older than Daryl by a few years, but Annabelle was Daryl's age. Annabelle turned to look at Daryl as he walked up. Everyone did. He couldn't move. He saw the house in flames, and began to feel needles of dread prickle in his stomach. Annabelle walked up to him, and gently tugged on his shirt. He looked at her, and had to blink back tears several times before he recognized her. She was wearing a white sundress, and had ribbons in her hair. Annabelle Louise Miller. They hadn't talked really, before that day. But he knew who she was. Hell, everyone in their small town knew who all the Millers were.

"We should get away from everyone." She whispered to him. "Come on." She offered him her hand, and he took it. She led him away from the eyes of the town, and toward her parents and her sister. Her brother stood off, away from the rest of her family. He was the oldest out of the three Miller children. As Daryl walked up to them, Mrs. Miller placed a protective hand on his back.

They took him back to their house. It was a mansion compared to his house. But literally. Mr. Jeremiah Miller had made millions off of his cotton plantations in south Georgia. He lived in North Georgia because he liked the scenery better, Annabelle would explain to him later. They lived in a plantation style home, complete with a full wraparound porch and three stories of decadence. He had never been inside of their house until that day. But Daryl's parents didn't really have any family friends. So Daryl didn't really have anywhere to go. The Miller's had known that. He was thankful to them, for that day. They kept him out of the hands of the drama-hungry folks that lived in that town that could care less about the small boy who had just lost his home.

Mrs. Miller sat him down on one of the sofa's in their family room, and handed him a glass of sweet tea. He thanked her, but didn't drink from it. Across the coffee table, sitting on the sofa opposite him, Annabelle stared at him with big eyes, but didn't say anything. A few minutes later, she was ushered out of the room by her father, who appeared in the archway that led to the entrance room to the house with a fireman next to him.

"Son," Mr. Miller began. "This fireman wants to speak to you a little bit, about what happened today, alright?"

Daryl just nodded, still unsure of what exactly was going on. The fireman came over and kneeled in front of him, and began talking to him. He told him that a cigarette had caught the house on fire. One of his mothers. Daryl began asking if his mother was okay, and why she wasn't here with him. The fireman hesitated for a moment before speaking.

"Daryl, your mother's bed caught on fire. She was asleep. I'm sorry."

Daryl had felt like his world suddenly became very surreal. He must be dreaming. His mother wasn't dead. She couldn't be.

Daryl stared at the fireman blankly as the man continued to talk. Daryl wasn't hearing a word that he said. Eventually, the fireman said his name several times and Daryl finally jerked back to reality.

"I need to find out where your father is Daryl. Does he work?"

The first words that Daryl had said since he saw his house in flames came out of him. "Yeah. Over in town at the power plant."

The fireman looked like he was about to ask another question, and Daryl felt himself fill with misery. He didn't want to talk to this man. Just before he could ask the question, Mr. Miller interrupted. "Any other questions you have, I can probably answer for you. I think it's best we give the boy a break from all of this."

The man turned and looked at Mr. Miller for a moment before standing up and leaving the room with him. Just before the men exited the house, Mr. Miller called Annabelle to him from the kitchen. He exchanged a few words with her, before she walked into the same room as Daryl and sat across from him again. The men exited the house, and distantly Daryl could hear the low voices of women coming from the kitchen.

There was total silence in the family room for a few moments, before Annabelle finally spoke to Daryl. "Do you like horses?" She asked him. He was caught off guard, having been completely submersed in his own thoughts. "Yeah, I do." He replied. "Do you want to see some of ours?" She asked him. He didn't answer for a while, but eventually the words, "Ok." came out of his mouth. Anything to get him out of the house and into some space where he could breathe. The young girl stood up and walked out of the family room, and Daryl followed her.

They came outside to a large backyard. Daryl knew that her family owned a lot of land, but most of it was just riding trails and hunting land for her father. But this area was groomed and well kept. They walked a ways before they finally came upon a paddock, where a chestnut filly, not older than a year, was cantering in circles.

"This is my horse." Annabelle announced as they walked up to the fence. "She's not old enough for me to ride yet. But I can't ride ponies anymore. I've been using my parent's horses in the meantime. But my dad said when she turns three, she's mine."

"What's her name?"

"Dancer." Annabelle replied.

"What kinda horse is she?"

"A quarter horse. You ever ride horses before, Daryl Dixon?"

Daryl and Annabelle talked for a long time. Looking back, he couldn't thank her enough for that day. She'd kept him sane, kept his mind occupied so that he wouldn't have to think and rethink everything that had happened that day. Daryl's father came to pick him up later that afternoon, and Daryl said bye to Annabelle.

She was always kind to him when they saw each other after that day, but he had no idea what he was in store for when they actually became close years later.

Carl's voice jerked Daryl back to the present. "I'm sorry about your mom, Daryl."

"I'm sorry about yours." Daryl responded.

They continued through the cell block, checking each cell and killing every walker they found. They were almost done when Carl spoke again.

"She's alive, Daryl."

"Who?" He replied.

"Annabelle." Carl stated. Daryl stopped and looked at the boy for a moment, shocked he had said anything. Annabelle was a touchy subject that most people in the prison didn't talk to him about. Ruby was an exception, being that she was Annabelle's sister.

"Why do you say that?" Daryl finally answered.

"Well, you don't believe she's dead, do you?" Carl replied.

"No, I don't. I think she's out there somewhere."

"So do I. Annabelle was tough. That's why I didn't suggest her name for the baby. We can't have two Annabelle's in the group."

Daryl looked at the boy and felt a slight smile pull at him. The boy's confidence made him feel a little better. He was about to reply when he saw a walker appear out of the corner of his eye. He jumped back, alarmed, and fired an arrow. At the same time, Oscar and Carl both shot their weapons as well.

"He must've been in the last cell. We checked all the rest of them." Oscar stated as they went to go investigate the body.

Daryl looked at the walkers neck to see a knife sticking out of it. He knelt down next to the creature and felt his stomach drop as he looked at the knife that was gouged into its neck. It was Carol's knife.

Daryl felt a wave of sickness creep into his body. When he had found Carol's head scarf, he had accepted her death. But the knife now? That meant that Carol had been alive in this cell block. At some point, she had been walking these corridors, frightened and fighting for her life. He looked at the knife in his hand, and felt a strange sensation of emptiness begin to fill him. Any inspiration he'd just had from the small boy's courage was lost.

"Ya'll can head on back." He told Oscar and Carl.

"What about the last walker, behind that door?" Carl asked.

"Seemed like it didn't have much fight in it. I'll take care of it." Daryl replied. "You two go on and get cleaned up." Carl and Oscar nodded to Daryl, and began to walk away.

Daryl waited a few moments to hear their footsteps grow distant, before he turned his focus to the knife in his hand. He twirled the knife between his fingers, and turned heel to head back towards the last cell.

He sat in front of the door, and it moved just slightly. Daryl stared at the door, and stabbed the ground next to him with the knife.

It seemed like no matter what he did, he kept losing people. No matter how hard he fought, no matter how many bullets or arrows he used, he couldn't keep them all safe. He had lost everything, now. He cared about everyone in the group, but it was no secret that he felt closer with Carol. He had found a kindred spirit in her. And Merle. His brother was lost, most likely dead. Just like Annabelle. Annabelle was lost to him.

Daryl let out a cry of frustration and stabbed the wall. The worst part about all of it was that he would lose more people. It was inevitable. And the one's that went missing, he would probably never see again. He would probably never see Merle again. Or Annabelle. Daryl felt himself slipping, and he forced the morbid thoughts to the back of his head. He couldn't do anything about those that he'd lost, but he'd be damned if more died because he wasn't there to keep them safe.

Daryl finally stood, ready to tackle what was beyond the door. He put the knife in his mouth and grabbed the body that was blocking the way, and dragged it to the side. He armed himself again, and took a deep breath. As he exhaled, he regained his focus, and yanked the door open. When he saw what was inside, he couldn't have been more shocked.

Carol. Carol was in front of him. And she looked ok. Not like a walker. She looked up at him, her eyes dull from exhaustion. He took her face in his hand and inspected her eyes. She was definitely alive. And definitely very dehydrated. Daryl immediately pocketed the knife and picked Carol up in his arms. He walked back towards the main cell block, and with each step he took, he felt his strength renewed. He had accepted Carol for dead, and here she was, alive in his arms.

That meant she could be, too. She could be alive out there.

A/N: Thank you my lovelies for giving this story a chance! Reviews are greatly appreciated and they give me so much motivation. I will try to update as soon as possible, let me know what you thought.

This story will have different perspectives throughout the various chapters, and not all perspectives will be from characters within the prison. Additionally, this story will detail Daryl's backstory before the apocalypse, including his relationship with Annabelle.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

A/N: Thanks to everyone who read the last chapter. Now, onto the next!

I want to give a big shoutout to my reviewers for the first chapter, 'HermionieandMarcus', and 'ILuvOdie'. Your reviews mean so much! Thanks for reading!

* * *

October 1996: Fourteen years before the Outbreak

DARYL

Daryl let out a hiss of anger as he felt someone bump into him hard from behind. He turned his head to see Jackson White smirking before stalking away. Daryl hated school enough without assholes like Jackson making his day worse than it already was.

"Hey!" Daryl yelled out to the boy walking away from him, causing him to stop and turn around. The boy was much bigger than Daryl. Daryl considered him to be nothing more than a stereotypical jock. An asshole that wasn't very bright. Luckily, he had all of his daddy's money to make up for his stupidity. "You best apologize." Daryl snapped at the other boy.

"Oh yeah?" Jackson responded, turning around to face Daryl. "And what's your pansy ass gonna do about it if I don't?"

"I'm gonna beat the shit outta you until you beg me to stop." Daryl replied.

"You redneck prick." Jackson replied. "I wonder how many hits you can actually take." Jackson sauntered up to Daryl, and looked down at him. "You talk a pretty tough game." Jackson finished.

Daryl shoved Jackson back out of his face and into a wall. At this point, people were beginning to crowd around them in a circle. Daryl tightened his hands into fists and prepared himself for a fight. Jackson was beginning to right himself and go at Daryl when a female's voice broke through the chaos of chanting students.

"Jackson White!"

Jackson turned his head to look at the blonde that was making her way toward the fight. Daryl turned to look at her too.

She was wearing a pair of blue jeans and a white blouse. On anyone else, it would've looked nice. But the way she wore it, there should be laws preventing people from looking that good. She had long, wavy blonde hair and blue-grey eyes, which were currently directed at Jackson and weren't bothering to hide her anger at the situation. She was Annabelle Louise Miller, younger sister to the infamous Ruby Mae Miller, and heiress to the Miller cotton plantation fortune. And she was by far the most beautiful girl Daryl had ever laid eyes on.

Jackson immediately balked under the blonde's icy gaze. "And what exactly is going on here, Jackson?" Daryl couldn't help but to smirk at the other boy's expression. Annabelle and Jackson had been together for years, and that boy listened to every word that came out of her mouth. Talk about whipped.

"Dixon shoved me. I was about to teach him about respect." Jackson replied.

Daryl felt a fire rise up within him. "I shoved you?" Daryl responded. "It's you that needs to learn bout respect." He snapped back.

Daryl was unprepared for when Annabelle rounded on him. She whipped her head around to stare him down too, and Daryl took a step back. It made more sense now as to why Jackson always listened to her. Daryl thought of himself as pretty tough, but he couldn't help but to be a little intimidated by the feisty blonde. She surveyed Daryl for a moment, before she looked back at Jackson. "Walk me to class. I'm about to be late." Was all she said to Jackson. Jackson shot daggers at Daryl over his girlfriend's head, but didn't say anything else. He took Annabelle's books from her and began to walk away. The students in the hall disbanded themselves and mumbled, disappointed over the fight that didn't take place.

Daryl adjusted his back pack on his shoulder and couldn't help the feeling of annoyance that crept into his veins. He didn't need her to save him. He was just fine on his own. He looked after the two of them as they continued down the hall, and he couldn't help but to feel surprised when Annabelle turned her head to make eye contact with Daryl again as she walked away. She held his gaze until Jackson put his arm around her shoulders, then broke away to focus forward again.

Daryl didn't think too much of it, and walked toward his last class. The class went by quickly for Daryl, and as soon as the final bell rang he was out of the classroom and headed toward the bus loop. He got on his bus, and sat alone toward the back like he always did. It didn't take long before Annabelle got on to the same bus, with two of her friends chatting away with her.

Annabelle was like that, always surrounded by people that wanted to be near her. Daryl wanted to dislike her. But he honestly didn't have a reason. She talked to him in class and was friendly toward him and just about everyone else in their school. People that didn't like her typically hadn't actually met her, or were jealous of her dating Jackson. But right now, he felt a large feeling of annoyance toward this girl that he couldn't shake. She didn't need to intervene earlier. He could've handled it himself.

He rode by himself the entire way, until eventually he and Annabelle were the only ones left on the bus. They got off at the last stop. He had lived just down the road from her his whole life. They lived on a country road, there was no neighborhood or Homeowners association. About a half mile down the road from her family's plantation sat Daryl's tiny house. Her family owned just about all the land before his house and behind it, having hundreds of acres of land just meant for hunting and horseback riding.

He got off the bus after she did, and walked a couple of steps behind her down the country road until he finally got up the courage to say something to her.

"Why'd you get in the middle of our fight?" Daryl snapped at Annabelle.

The girl stopped in her tracks and turned around to face him. She met his eyes, and stared him down for the second time that day. "There wasn't any reason for a fight." She responded simply. She turned around and continued to walk away from him.

Daryl let out an annoyed sigh and jogged up next to her. When he was parallel to her, he started talking to her again. "I can take care of myself. I don't need you protecting me."

She sighed as though Daryl's prodding was annoying her. "I wasn't protecting you. I was protecting Jackson." She replied. She continued walking, but Daryl stopped in shock and it took him a second to get over what she had just said to him. Eventually he started walking again and caught up to her. "I didn't want to hear Jackson bullshitting about a lost fight for the next three months. So I averted the situation." She explained to him as he walked up next to her. Daryl didn't really know what to say to her. "So you think I would've won?" Daryl responded.

"I remember last year at that bonfire at Jesse Locke's farm. You beat the shit outta that kid Billy. Everyone had been betting on him to win too." She stated.

"Yeah, I remember that." Daryl said with a smirk. "He talked a lot of shit. Then he didn't talk too much at all for a couple weeks."

Annabelle smiled in response to his words. There was silence between them again until she spoke again. "I know better than to underestimate you, Daryl Dixon."

Daryl eyed her for a moment, but decided he didn't need to say anything. They walked side by side the rest of the way, until they reached Annabelle's house. Daryl gave her a nod as a goodbye, and continued his way toward his own house. The next day, for the first time, Daryl and Annabelle walked next to each other on the way home.

* * *

Present Day

ANNABELLE

Annabelle woke up and stretched, twisting to crack her back. Her bedroll on top of some hay bales wasn't necessarily the most comfortable setup, but it was warm and would have to do.

She got out of her bed, remaking it as she did, and got dressed in a pair of jeans and a white t-shirt, and threw a light camo sweater on over that. After, she found her hairbrush and fought through some of the knots in her hair before she braided it down her back. She sighed as she was finished, and looked around at her temporary home.

She was living in the hay loft of a barn. It was safe enough. She could bar the doors shut at night from the inside of the barn, and bring her horse in at night.

Speaking of her horse, she heard a loud whinny from beneath her, signaling that Gypsy had figured out Annabelle was awake. "I'm coming!" She called down to the horse, who snorted in response.

Annabelle walked over to the window in the hay loft and cranked it open. The sun was just beginning to rise in the sky. Another start to another long day.

Throughout winter, Annabelle had been on her own. She had been separated from her group the night a herd passed through their farm. She felt her heart ache at the memory. Sometimes she still dreamed about that night, about her near death experience.

She had been trapped on top of Dale's RV, slowly being surrounded by a ring of walkers. The shotgun in her hands was useless compared to the amount of walkers around the RV. Just outside the ring, toward the road, Daryl Dixon had looked on in disbelief.

That was what was hardest for her. It wasn't living day to day, surviving and struggling. It was missing him. Not knowing if he was okay, or if at this moment he was wandering the planet as a walker.

She didn't think she would ever be able to adequately describe her feelings for the hunter. She had been through so much with him before the apocalypse, and so much after it had begun. She had lost him from the time she was twenty-two, until she finally found him during the apocalypse. She hadn't thought that she would ever see him again. She had messed things up so badly between them, and then he had just vanished from her life before she could fix it. It was like she had been given a second chance with him.

If she had learned anything from the apocalypse, it was to never take anything for granted. She had made that mistake with him once, and she never intended to do it again. But it had worked out. By some miracle, it had worked out for them. After arriving at Hershel's farm, it had been no secret how they felt about each other. The way she figured it, the apocalypse had put into perspective for them the things that they couldn't live without, and the people they couldn't live without.

Daryl was one of those people for her. Her heart had been ripped apart by watching him drive away on his motorcycle with Carol and Ruby with him. But she knew he could save them, without a doubt. Her odds of survival had been significantly lower. She had escaped by going to the front of the RV and dangling her legs over the edge, and watching the walkers gather in the front. Many left from the sides of the RV to come up to the front of it. When she had distracted enough of them, she stood on the RV, sprinted to the other side, and jumped. She had barely cleared the walkers and had landed on top of one. She killed it with her knife and had started to run. Walkers were everywhere, and her ankle was sprained. She had barely made it off of the farm, and then had run for hours on a sprained ankle. Eventually, she slowly killed off the walkers pursuing her and she holed up in an abandoned house for the night.

The next day she wrapped her ankle and started walking. She found a stream to soak her ankle in. Slowly, the days went by and she took it easy, choosing to make traps. She survived, mostly starving, for a few weeks. And then she found Gypsy in a field.

The horse had made her readily mobile, and they survived better together. Eventually, her foot healed. She found a bow, and now she was surviving day by day, slowly making her way into northern Georgia. She had been staying in this barn for some time, waiting for the coldest weather to be over. She wanted to go into the mountains, but she had wanted to wait until it was warmer. In spring she could find a place up there to live where she could survive a winter of snow. Now the weather was finally warm enough, she felt it a good time to begin her trek into the mountains of North Georgia.

The farther north she went, the less Walkers there were. The deeper she went into the mountains, the less people she saw, and the less walkers she saw. On one hand, this was comforting to her. On the other hand, it made her anxious. All the miles she continued to travel, all she could think about was the distance she was putting between herself and the last place she had seen Daryl. If he stayed south and never went north, she wasn't sure that she would ever see him again. She wanted to go look for him, but the more south you went in Georgia, the more walkers there were. Out here she could survive by herself, down there it was much more risky.

After leaving Hershel's farm she hadn't run into many outsiders. The few groups she had found had needed her more than she needed them. Those that were hostile she got away from quickly. There had only been one incident where she had considered joining a group.

She had been doing a run in a town, about midway through winter. She was about to explore a supermarket when two people exited the building she was ready to enter. The first man was someone she didn't recognize. A middle aged man with brown hair. The second man was also middle aged and had tan skin and black hair. The third man she recognized instantly. She had grown up with him living right down the road, and she was in love with his brother.

Merle Dixon sauntered out of the supermarket, and Annabelle could hardly believe her eyes when she saw him. He actually looked pretty decent despite living in the apocalypse. He had replaced his missing hand with a prosthetic that now had a knife attached to it. Annabelle hadn't seen Merle in years, even longer than she had seen Daryl.

"Well, aren't you a sight for sore eyes." Merle greeted Annabelle brightly, with his sarcastic overtone ever present. "How you been sweetheart? Apparently you've been doing alright for yourself."

"I've been doing okay." Annabelle responded simply.

"You in a group or something?" He questioned her.

"No. I got separated from my group a few months ago." Annabelle had hesitated before deciding to tell Merle that she had been with Daryl. "I was with Daryl, actually, and a small group of survivors."

"No shit." Merle replied. "With the Sheriff, T-Dog and the Chinese kid? How interesting. You know they left me to die on top of a goddamn rooftop?"

"I don't know anything about that. I met them afterwards. I heard about it though, from Daryl. He went back for you."

Merle made a 'hmph' sound before he continued on in the conversation. "So, did you and my brother finally get together or what?"

Annabelle had blushed, forgetting how blunt Merle could be. Her lack of a swift answer told him enough.

"I'm glad my baby brother finally got some balls then." Merle responded to her silence. "It's about time." Merle paused for a moment before speaking again. "But excuse my manners. These gentlemen right here are Martinez and Phillip." He gestured to the two men next to him. "And this is Annabelle. I know her from way back in my more youthful years."

Martinez didn't say anything to her, but the other man, Phillip, greeted her with a warm hello, to which she responded with a nod.

"You should come with us, back to our place." Phillip continued. "It's safe, we have food and shelter, lots of other survivors. It's almost like a small town. We call it Woodbury."

Annabelle had surveyed the three men carefully before making her decision. They all seemed trustworthy enough, but Annabelle had known Merle for a long time, and he was certainly no Daryl. Before the apocalypse, he had barely had any sort of honorable code to live by. The Merle she knew had been a drug addict, and less than trustworthy. She didn't know how Merle was now, but she had a feeling the apocalypse hadn't exactly changed him for the better. And she didn't know anything about these other two men. But she knew that typically, birds of a feather flock together.

"I think I'll stay on my own." She finally responded.

The three men had wished her well, and asked about her plans. She indicated she was going north, but that was the only information she gave them. They parted ways, and she hadn't seen anything of them since. She had only run into a few other people since then, and their interactions had been very brief, to say the least.

Annabelle broke away from her thoughts and walked away from the window in the hay loft. She walked over to her bedside and grabbed her bow and arrows. She descended into the bottom floor of the barn, and walked over to the makeshift stall she had been keeping Gypsy in. The black mare nickered at the sight of the girl, and Annabelle patted her muzzle affectionately. She was a pretty quarter horse, all black with a white blaze and snip. She had white socks on three of her legs as well. Annabelle released the latch on the rope that was keeping Gypsy in her stall, and then she opened the doors the barn. The horse trotted out happily, and Annabelle followed close behind her. From her window view, she hadn't seen any walkers. From what she could tell now, there still weren't any.

Gypsy trotted happily around the open field around the barn, and Annabelle followed after her. She checked the field for walkers, and once she was sure it was clear she walked around the side of the barn to assess the water situation.

There was still plenty of water in the buckets that Annabelle had set around the side of the barn, so she wouldn't need to worry about that today. She filled a canteen she had with the rainwater she had accumulated and then set out toward the forest that lay at the edge of the field. It didn't take long for her to find the first of her traps that she had set out the day before. She killed the rabbit there, and continued on to check the rest of her traps. She ended up with a small bounty of food, and headed back toward the barn.

Gypsy was grazing in the field, and lifted her head to look at Annabelle returning before she went back to grazing. Annabelle used to keep the horse tied with a long rope, but she eventually realized the horse didn't want to go anywhere. Their odds of survival were greater with each other.

Annabelle went to the firepit she had created, and began to ready a fire. The day was nice today, and as she prepared her food she realized that she would need to move on from this place soon. Maybe by the end of the week. The barn was nice, but Annabelle desired a place that she could live more permanently and comfortably. Hopefully, she would find such a place up north. And she couldn't lie, she was beginning to miss people. A lot. She had to remind herself to speak some days, and tried to keep her sanity by talking to Gypsy. But a horse was a poor replacement for human company.

The idea of finding another group was strange to her. In a way, she felt like she was still a part of her old group, despite the distance. Joining with other people felt strange to her. But unless she headed south, she probably stood little to no chance of finding them. And if she went south, she risked endangering herself by nearing cities that had high populations before the apocalypse, which meant high concentrations of walkers.

She didn't want to put more distance between herself and Daryl, but she couldn't really look for them without any knowledge of where they might be or if they were even still alive. As she cooked the meat, she found herself making the decision to move on from this place, but not from her old group or from Daryl. Until the day she saw his body, she wouldn't let herself think he was dead.

The sun shone down through the sky and onto her small camp, and she glanced up at it. For a moment she wondered where Daryl might be, and if where he was the sun was shining too. And maybe, just maybe, he was looking at the sun and thinking of her too.

* * *

Daryl readied the SUV, working quickly to make sure they would get there, to Woodbury, in time. He glanced up at the sun, which was still high in the sky and burning bright as ever. They still had plenty of time. Earlier that day, a woman named Michonne had shown up at the prison with only a katana and a shopping basket full of baby supplies. She had finally revealed to them that she had figured out their location from a pair of people, an Asian boy and a pretty young girl. Glenn and Maggie. And that these same people had been kidnapped.

Of course, no sooner did they get Carol back than more people go missing. But he could do something about Glenn and Maggie. They knew where they were, and Michonne was going to lead them straight to them.

Daryl packed everything he could think that they would need. Guns, ammunition, flash bangs, tear gas, the works. From what Michonne had been describing to them, this place had many more people than they did, and firepower to match their increased numbers. He heard footsteps behind him, and turned to see Ruby walking up with the last bag of guns and ammo. He took the bag from her, and placed it in the back of the SUV before slamming the trunk shut. He turned around to face Ruby, who was looking at him with concern written all over her face.

"You be safe, you hear me?" She stated sternly to him. "You come back here with them. Alive."

Daryl nodded in response. "Don't worry about me. I'll be fine." He replied.

Ruby stared at him for a moment before she walked forward to him and hugged him. Daryl rested his chin on top of her head and returned the hug, before Ruby pulled away from him. "Promise me you'll come back." She asked of him. Daryl hesitated for a moment before he answered. "I promise." He finally stated. The brunette nodded to him, and took a few steps back before turning around and walking away. Just in time, the rest of the group walked up to the SUV, ready to depart. Daryl walked up to the passenger side of the SUV, and departed with the rest of the group.

It didn't take them long before they pulled off on the side of the road and continued their journey to Woodbury on foot. As they walked, night began to sink in. By the time they got to Woodbury, they were completely immersed in darkness. As promised, armed guards roamed the walls. Behind Daryl, Michonne vanished into the darkness without a word. Rick called after her, frustrated. They began discussing their way in, when Michonne reappeared and motioned them to follow after her.

They followed her around the complex and in through a side wall. They slipped through the fence, and as they did, Daryl took a deep breath. There was no going back now.

He took point for Rick as they worked their way into a house.

"Where are they keeping them?" Rick asked Michonne tensely.

"I don't know. They could be anywhere. This place is massive."

"You led us here and you don't know where they are?" Rick snapped at her.

"I told you I would get you in. And here we are." Michonne replied back, her voice laced with ice.

Rick was about to same something else, when Daryl noticed a figure approaching through the window. He whistled at Rick, who turned to look as well. They all moved into corners of the room, and the man entered the shop.

"Now ya'll know you're not supposed to be in here." The man called as he walked in. "Why don't you come on out now."

From the way he was talking, Daryl figured the man assumed they were just some kids messing around and breaking the rules. Daryl almost felt sorry for what they were about to do. The man walked further into the store, and Daryl tensed up, readying himself. He met eyes with Rick, who nodded to him, and then they both sprang on the man.

Daryl held the man with Oscar, and Rick did the interrogating. He asked the man several questions, but he appeared to be clueless to where the other members of their group were. Rick glanced up at Daryl, and Daryl didn't hesitate. He hit the man in the back of the head, and rendered him unconscious. They moved his body out of the way and continued on.

They roamed the town quietly, deciding where to try next, when suddenly the sounds of shots being fired rang through the air. As a unit, they moved toward the sound. Daryl glanced behind them, watching their back, and he noticed that Michonne was gone.

"Rick!" He called to the sheriff. Rick turned around and noticed to the Michonne was gone. He cursed under his breath, and then replied, "Let's just keep moving. She'll take care of herself."

Daryl nodded, and they continued to move toward the sound. And it didn't fail them. They went down into what seemed like dungeons, and saw the two members of their group being held. Daryl took one of the smoke grenades from his backpack and pulled the tab on it, sending it out toward their enemies. Then gunfire ensued. Daryl rushed forward and grabbed Glenn and Maggie under cover of the smoke, and shoved them around the corner. He turned around to open fire on the guards shooting at them, before he ran after the rest of the group and back toward the outside. Daryl jogged up next to Glenn and handed him a gun, and then handed Maggie one. Now that they were out of the smoke, Daryl could see Glenn and Maggie more clearly. Glenn was beat to shit. No question about that. There was blood all down the side of his face, and one of his eyes was almost completely swollen shut. Maggie seemed alright, but Daryl was sure she hadn't escaped this unscathed.

They made their way toward the street, and Rick ordered them to stay together. Daryl threw a few more smoke bombs into the street, and then the group progressed toward the wall. Sounds of gunfire rang out, and Daryl ducked behind some cover. He stayed low, and just barely appeared over the top of his cover to fire at some of the Woodbury men. One man he missed, the other one went down. As the man he missed opened fire again, Daryl ducked down underneath the cover again. To his right, he noticed movement in the alleyway and fired at the man attempting to rush him. He went down.

He relaxed a moment, reloaded his gun, and prepared to sprint across the street to Rick. He opened fire down the street again, and dashed across the road to crouch behind a barrier with Rick.

"Get them out of here." Daryl stated to Rick. "I'll cover you."

"Are you sure, Daryl?" Rick asked him.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. Go."

Rick nodded to his friend and began to usher the group out while Daryl held his position and fired upon the men advancing toward them. He glanced over his shoulder as Rick and the other's cleared the fence. Daryl fired a few more shots, and turned around to hop the wall. As he did, he was met face to face with a large Hispanic man and the butt of his gun. The last thing Daryl remembered was feeling pain in his head, and then nothing.

When Daryl came to, he was back in the dungeons that they had found Glenn and Maggie in. _Great. Just fucking great._ He thought bitterly as he looked around the room. His eyes were still blurry, but he found focus on the shape of a man sitting in front of him. Daryl moved his arms, and found they were bound to the chair he was in. Daryl shook his head, trying to get rid of the groggy feeling he had. He tested his arm restraints again. They were secure. His only option now was to listen to the man that was sitting before him. He was sure that he wasn't sitting there just to keep an eye on Daryl.

He finally was able to focus in, and he saw an older man sitting in front of him. He guessed the man to be in his mid forties, maybe around Rick's age. The man had a bandage over his eye, and blood was visible on the bandage. The wound was fresh. This man was sitting back in the chair, almost in a relaxed state. He had his good eye trained on Daryl, an expression that Daryl could only describe as dark written all over his face.

"Hello." The man finally said, his gaze not wavering from Daryl. "Do you know who I am?" He asked Daryl.

Daryl paused, and returned the steely gaze for a moment. He knew this man was their leader. He could tell from the confident, cocky way he held himself. "You're the Governor." Daryl finally responded.

The man chuckled to himself. "Very good. And I know who you are. You're Daryl Dixon."

Daryl felt his heart rate quicken. How did this man know him? It wasn't like Daryl carried a wallet with an ID on him. "How do you know who I am?" Daryl remarked back at him.

"Because I know your brother."

Daryl stopped breathing for a moment as shock settled into his system. Merle? How did he know Merle? Was Merle here? Was he alive?

"How do you know him?" Daryl responded. He made sure to keep his voice level. This man's goal was to rattle him.

"He's here, in Woodbury." The governor responded. "One of my best men, in fact."

"He alive?" Daryl probed.

"Very much so."

Merle was alive. Merle was alive. And he was here, in this town somewhere. Daryl couldn't believe what he was hearing. After everything, his brother was alive. He let the words settle into his brain, and began to process the knowledge that his brother was alive. His thoughts were interrupted when the Governor spoke again.

"It's funny, Daryl. I seem to have a knack for running into people you know. Why, just in the middle of this winter, I ran into someone else you happened to know. A pretty young blonde by the name of Annabelle. Merle and I ran into her when we were doing a run into one of the neighboring towns."

Daryl couldn't speak. He couldn't think. She had been alive. She had been alive in the middle of winter. That meant she survived the farm. And that meant she could be alive right now. Disbelief coursed through his veins, only to be replaced with an inexplicable sensation of relief and happiness.

"Is she here? Is she alive?" Daryl questioned the Governor. His brother and Annabelle. He couldn't believe it. The idea that she could be so close, just within his reach. He could hold her again, hear her voice and see her smile. But, as Daryl looked at the Governor, he felt a feeling of dread interrupt the feeling of happiness spreading through his veins. The man opposite him didn't answer his question. His expression only grew darker. The man stood up slowly, and began to talk.

"Merle lead me to believe that this girl was special to you. When we spoke to her about you, it was obvious enough that she cared for you. She told us she had been with you, just a couple months prior."

The Governor walked around the table until he was next to Daryl, and then he crouched down so that he was next to his face. Daryl felt his heart rate quicken as he prepared himself for whatever this man was about to say to him.

"She was very beautiful, Daryl. What she was doing running around with someone like you I'll never understand." The Governor paused and leaned in closer to Daryl, until he could feel the man's breath on him.

"Did she squeal for you, Daryl? Cause she did for me. She cried, and begged, and fought me every step of the way. But I got what I wanted from her. "

Daryl felt anger sear through his body. His vision began to cloud over until he began to see red. He lunged for the man crouching next to him, and the Governor backed up quickly and laughed as Daryl knocked his chair over. Daryl panted furiously and attempted to right himself only to be met with a kick in the stomach from the Governor. All the breath rushed out of his body, and he began to feel dizzy. The idea of this man touching her, hurting her. Daryl couldn't take it. He couldn't think for all of the blind rage coursing through his body.

"I'm going to kill you. I'm going to fucking kill you." Daryl snarled into the floor as the Governor stood over him. Every inch of his body wanted this man dead. He wanted to kill him. He wanted to rip him apart with his bare hands.

"I don't think you're in a position to do that right now, Daryl." The Governor replied calmly to his statement. "I don't think you're in much of a position to do anything right now, actually."

The Governor reached down to Daryl and righted his chair so that Daryl was facing upright again. Daryl tried to kick him and bite him, do anything. And after he was upright, he began to fight against his restraints furiously. The Governor walked around the table and stood across from him, and stared him down. "To answer your question, Daryl, I don't know if Annabelle is alive or dead. I just know that when I was through with her, and I left her on the floor of the supermarket, bleeding and barely able to move, she wished she was dead."

Daryl screamed at him. He had no idea what. A string of profanities and threats came from his mouth as this man walked across the room and out the door. As the door slammed shut, Daryl stood, the chair still attached to him by his wrists and began to slam the chair against the wall until it finally broke. He used his free hands the undo the knots tying him to the arms of the chair and he then armed himself with one of the broken pieces of wood. He kicked the table over and out of his way, and charged at the door. He slammed the wood against it, his fists. He yelled through the door and kicked the thing over and over, but nothing. He was trapped in this room. He paced furiously around the room for a few more moments, before he finally calmed down enough to process what had just happened. The Governor's words played over and over in his mind. Daryl threw the piece of wood across the room and leaned back against the wall. He buried his face in his palms and let out a frustrated cry before he finally sunk down the wall and onto the floor.

Daryl couldn't stop the images from playing in his head over and over again as though on repeat. His sweet, gentle Annabelle. His memories of the bright, spirited woman he had once known became clouded and destroyed by the pictures the Governor had painted in his head. He couldn't believe this had happened. A choked sob came out from him and he didn't bother to stop the tears.

This was his fault. Annabelle was most likely dead. She had been beaten and brutalized and left to die. He had left her there, on that farm. He never should have left her. He could've done something, he could've fought off the walkers approaching him long enough to see her jump, to go and help her. He never should've left her. And now he was paying the price.

He felt a part of him beginning to shut down. He began to feel empty. He leaned his head back against the metal wall, and shut his eyes. He willed the images away, but they wouldn't go. They were burned into his brain, and there was nothing he could do to rid himself of them. He knew they would haunt him every day, if he survived this. He could try to find her. But he knew what had probably happened to her. The smell of fresh blood, Walkers had probably stormed the scene.

He buried his head in his hands as grief coursed through his body. He tried to wipe some of the tears out of his eyes, but it was useless. He breathed a shaky sigh. For the first time in this entire apocalypse, he wanted to give up. He wanted to do anything, anything at all to make the pain end. But there were still so many people that needed him, and Merle was alive somewhere in this town.

He forced himself to live the images, and to keep the fire burning in his veins. He couldn't give up. Not just yet.

* * *

A/N: Well, we now know that Annabelle is alive, and the governor is a liar. Too bad Daryl has no idea that she's ok. I will update again soon. Remember to leave a review, they motivate me and it's nice to know you guys are enjoying what I'm writing.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

A/N: Thank you for everyone who read the last chapter. Now, onto the next chapter!

I would like to give a big shout out to my reviewers! 'ILuvOdie' and 'Rea Josette'. You guys are the best!

* * *

November 1999

DARYL

Daryl walked alongside Annabelle as they walked in the direction of their houses. This walk used to bore him to death, but it had been better since he and Annabelle had started walking it together.

He smiled slightly as she laughed. He had just been telling her about the last time Merle had been home.

"Your brother sounds like an interesting character." Annabelle finally said after she had finished laughing.

"You could say that." Daryl replied. He and Annabelle had been walking together every day for some time now. The more time he spent with the girl, the more he liked her. He had developed a bit of a crush on the pretty blonde. He wasn't fool enough to think it would actually go anywhere. The girl was practically engaged to Jackson White. But he enjoyed her company more than most other peoples.

They strolled up outside of Annabelle's house, and Daryl stopped walking to talk to her.

"What're your plans for this weekend?" Annabelle asked him as she sat down on the top rail of the white fence surrounding her house. Daryl walked up beside her and placed his elbows on her fence and leaned against it. "Me and a few guys are gonna head up to Jesse Locke's farm for a bonfire tonight." Daryl replied.

"Maybe I'll see you there." Annabelle replied easily. She shifted her legs to the other side of the fence and hopped down. She turned around after landing and said goodbye before she began the walk down the lawn to her house. Daryl just shook his head and smirked before he walked away.

Daryl used his Dad's truck to get to the bonfire later that night. He met up with a couple of his friends, Scott and Lee, before he made it to the farm.

The bonfire didn't disappoint. The place was packed with people. He and his friends went off to meet with a couple of other people that they knew, and came upon their small group. Several of their friends were drunk already, and Daryl wasted no time in trying to catch up with them.

He had been at the party for a while when a familiar voice spoke behind him.

"You come here often?"

Daryl smirked slightly before turning his head to see Annabelle standing behind him, one hand on her hip, the other holding onto a beer.

"Often enough." He replied.

"Mind if I join you?" She asked him, gesturing to the bench he was sitting on.

He shifted over enough to make room for her, and she sat down beside him. "How's your night going so far?" She asked him as she sat down.

"Pretty decent. What about you?" Daryl responded.

"It's going alright. This isn't the most exciting party I've ever been to, but it's fun."

"Where's your other half?" Daryl questioned her. He was honestly surprised that she had even come up to him. He had assumed that she would be here with Jackson, which meant that she probably wouldn't be hanging out with Daryl.

She waved her hand at the air nonchalantly. "He's around somewhere." She paused after she spoke, and seemed to be studying Daryl. After a couple of seconds of silence, she finally said something to him. "Do you even like any of the people here, Daryl?"

Daryl was taken aback by her statement. "Why do you ask that?" He responded.

"I don't know. Sometimes you just get this look like you don't really like any of the people around you. At school, on the bus, and right now."

"You make a habit out of watching me in school?" Daryl countered back at the blonde. She stammered for a moment, and Daryl could have sworn that he saw her blush.

"N-N-No. It's not like that." She finally replied. It took a second for her to regain her composure. "I just meant it was something that I had noticed."

Daryl smirked for a moment and looked around at the people at the bonfire. "I like most of the people here just fine. There's only a couple of 'em I don't like, and only a couple of them that I really like." Daryl finally answered.

"So you're just the same as me then." Annabelle replied.

"I thought you were friends with most of the people here." Daryl stated to Annabelle.

"The word 'friend' is a little too strong for some of these people. I prefer to call most of these people 'friendly acquaintances'. I choose my real friends more carefully."

Daryl nodded and responded. "Seems like you and I are more similar than I originally thought." Annabelle smiled slightly, before she turned her body to face him and make eye contact. "Do you like me more than you like most people, Daryl Dixon?" She questioned him.

Daryl smirked just slightly at her question and took a sip of his beer before he answered her. "I would say so." Daryl replied. "Why do you care to know?"

Annabelle smiled at him before she answered. "Because I like you more than I like most people. I just wanted to make sure the feeling was mutual."

Daryl felt his stomach flip a little at her response, but he quickly silenced the thoughts in his head and hid his response from his face. Daryl liked Annabelle much more than he liked most people he knew. He was sure she didn't mean it the same way that he did, though.

Annabelle finished off her beer and placed it down. She touched Daryl's arm to get his attention, and said, "I'll be right back." She stood and walked off towards the woods, presumably to use the bathroom. As she walked away, Daryl shook his head just slightly and smiled to himself. He was trying not to think too much of how the blonde was acting toward him. He knew that she was more than off limits, and he was certain she intended only to be his friend. He enjoyed the sweet blonde's company a lot, and he didn't want to risk his friendship with her over some feelings that had no chance of prospering.

He took another sip of his beer, and out of the corner of his eye he saw another person leave the bonfire area. He glanced over and saw one of Jackson's cohorts, a kid named Henry, leaving the bonfire. Daryl was about to look away, but he felt an odd feeling in the pit of his stomach as he looked at the boy. He could tell from his slight stumble that he was already drunk. And as Daryl looked at the boy's face, he felt uneasiness prickle at his back. The boy's expression was dark, and sinister. He was up to no good. The boy finished the beer in his hand, and threw the bottle away and continued toward the forest in the direction Annabelle had just walked in.

Daryl watched for a moment as the boy walked away. He wasn't sure what this boy intended, if anything at all. He debated following him, but he wasn't sure if he should. If the boy was just going to take a piss, Daryl supposed he could just play it off as though he was out there to do the same. Daryl finished his beer and waited a moment for Henry to get further away, before he stood and walked toward the forest.

It didn't take Daryl long to reach the treeline, and he didn't see Annabelle or Henry anywhere. Daryl paused for a moment, listening, but he didn't hear anything. He waited for a moment, and debated going back to the bonfire. He decided to walk along the treeline, just to make sure everything was alright, before he continued back. He walked along the trees for a couple of minutes, and then he heard the sounds of a struggle.

Daryl dropped into a crouch, and went into the forest in the direction of the sound. He didn't go very far in at all, when he came upon the source of the noise.

Henry had Annabelle pinned to the ground, and the girl was struggling furiously against Henry. Her sobs were muffled by his hand over her mouth, and he was shushing the girl, telling her not to struggle. Daryl felt red-hot anger fill his veins at the sight, and it didn't take him more than a second to reacct. He walked up behind Henry, and Annabelle's struggles muffled the sound of his footsteps. He waited until he was right behind the other boy, and then he whistled. Henry whipped his head around at the sound, and his eye's widened in shock at the sight of Daryl, and Daryl used the opportunity to kick Henry square in the face.

The boy fell away from Annabelle at the force of the impact, and the girl scooted backwards away from Henry to back up against a tree.

"You broke my nose, Dixon!" Henry yelled furiously as he pinched his nose, trying to stop the bloodlflow from his nose.

"Did I?" Daryl replied as he walked up to Henry. "I'm sorry. I meant to break a lot more than that." Henry started to stand, and as he did Daryl cocked back his right arm and punched him in the face. Henry cried out in pain and fell back on all fours. Behind him, Daryl was aware that Annabelle was yelling, but Daryl was too focused on Henry to hear anything she was saying. Daryl was about to kick Henry when the boy suddenly lunged toward Daryl and tackled him, knocking him down. Henry pinned Daryl to the ground, and Daryl felt pain sear across the right side of his face as the other boy punched him. Daryl reached up and grabbed at the other boys face, hitting his already broken nose in the process. It was enough pain to distract Henry so that Daryl could switch their positions. Daryl pushed the other boy over, and pinned him down, and punched him again.

Henry's eyes flickered for a second, and Daryl realized that another good hit and Henry would be knocked out. He was about to punch him again, when he heard the sound of voices, and several people trampling through the undergrowth. Daryl looked in the direction of the sound, and saw Jackson jogging up through the trees with one of his cohorts. He saw confusion on the other boy's face, before he looked around at the situation. Jackson looked at Annabelle, whimpering and trying to cover herself with what was left of her shirt, and then at Daryl pinning Henry down. Jackson stared in shock for a moment, before he marched forward and grabbed the front of Daryl's shirt. He yanked Daryl off of Henry and slammed him back against a tree. Daryl was stunned for a second as he hit the tree, and realized that Jackson thought that he was responsible for Annabelle's current state.

"How dare you lay your hands on her!" Jackson spat in Daryl's face. "You redneck piece of shit. I'll kill you for this."

Daryl put his hands up defensively, and was about to explain the situation when he heard Annabelle yelling at Jackson.

"Jackson! Stop! It wasn't him! It was Henry!"

Jackson whipped his head around to look at Annabelle, and then at Henry who was still lying on his back on the forest floor.

"If Daryl hadn't been here, Henry would've raped me." Annabelle stated simply. Her voice was trembling as she spoke, and Daryl felt Jackson's grip on his shirt loosen.

Jackson released Daryl completely, and Daryl readjusted his jacket and shirt. Jackson rounded on Henry, who was now looking quite terrified on the forest floor.

"I-I can explain." Henry stammered.

"Start talking." Jackson snarled at the boy.

Daryl could care less about Jackson or Henry. He shifted his attention to Annabelle.

She was sitting on the ground, her back pressed against a tree. She was crying softly, and clutching the front of her shirt together. Daryl walked away from Jackson and Henry, and walked over to crouch down next to Annabelle. He took his jacket off and placed it around her shoulders, and Annabelle quickly put her arms through the sleeves and zipped up the front. Daryl reached forward to wipe a few of the tears off of her face. "You alright, sweetheart?" He asked her softly, and Annabelle nodded in response, but she still continued to cry quietly.

"Dixon." Daryl turned his head at the sound of his last name, and saw Jackson looking at him. "I'm gonna handle this." Jackson stated as he gestured to the boy on the ground, who was looking thoroughly terrified. "Can you make sure she gets home safe?" He asked.

Daryl was surprised for a second at his request, but he nodded in response to the boy's question. He turned to look at Annabelle, who was trembling like leaf and still had tears flowing down her face. Daryl approached her, and spoke before he touched her. "I'm gonna pick you up, ok?"

She nodded at him again, and Daryl picked her up bridal-style. Immediately, Annabelle buried her head in his chest and wrapped her arms around his neck. Daryl started to walk away from the scene, but before he did, he heard Jackon's voice again.

"Dixon."

Daryl turned to look at Jackson, and the other boy spoke again. "Thank you." Was all Jackson said. Daryl just nodded his head again, before he continued through the trees. He deliberately walked at an angle, away from the direction of the bonfire. When they came out of the trees, they were well away from the bonfire. Daryl walked down toward the road, and Annabelle lifted her head to look around.

"Where are we going?" She asked him, her voice still shaking.

"I'm taking you back to my truck. I just figured you didn't really want to walk by all of those people." Daryl responded.

"Oh." She said softly. "Thank you." She laid her head back against his chest, and he felt her arms tighten around his neck again.

Daryl avoided the bonfire successfully, and made his way to his truck. He set her down next to the truck, and unlocked the door and opened it for her. She quickly climbed inside of the truck, and he shut the door behind her. He climbed into the truck, and started the engine and began to drive in the direction of Annabelle's house.

Daryl pulled a pack of cigarettes out of his back pocket and pulled one of the cigarettes out and placed it in his mouth. "Do you mind?" He asked Annabelle. She didn't answer him, just shook her head and wiped another tear away from her face.

Daryl felt his heart sink as he looked at her. He didn't like seeing her upset like this. He had never seen Annabelle not happy. Seeing her look so vulnerable made him feel upset, and he wished that there was something he could do to make her feel better. He still felt anger in the pit of his stomach as he looked at her. Annabelle was sweet, and gentle. She didn't deserve what had happened to her tonight, and he knew the events would haunt her long after this night had passed. He was sure that it had been too easy for Henry to attack her. He wouldn't have needed to sneak up on her. Henry was best friends with Jackson. Annabelle had probably greeted the boy warmly right before he attacked her.

He cranked down his window slightly so that it was cracked, and lit his cigarette. He took a deep drag, and let the smoke calm him. He felt the buzz of the cigarette kick in as he exhaled, and it soothed him somewhat. By the time he finished his cigarette, Annabelle had stopped crying and was now sniffling softly. He glanced at her and longed to come up with words that would comfort her, but he couldn't think of anything to say.

They drove for a little longer, and then Annabelle's house came into view. Daryl shifted into a lower gear to prepare for the turn into her drive, when he suddenly felt her hand on his arm. He looked over at her, surprised. "Can we not go there just yet?" She asked him, her voice soft. "I'd rather not have to go there right now."

How could he say no to her? "Alright." He replied. "Where do you want to go?"

"Anywhere but here." She answered.

Daryl nodded and shifted back up a gear. He had an idea of where to take her, if she still wanted to calm down before she went home. He drove for a while longer, further up into the mountains, and eventually pulled off to a small dirt road. He drove down it a ways, and eventually stopped where a small creek intersected the road. It was shallow enough that he could drive through it, and he usually did when he was going to hunt. But there was no need for that tonight. It was a pretty little creek, maybe just the thing that she needed right now. He reached into his center console again, and pulled out a metal cigarette case, before he climbed out of the truck. She got out as well, and followed him toward the creek bed. He sat down on a large, flat boulder that rested next to the creek, and she sat down beside him.

"This is pretty." She said after a moment of silence.

"Mmhmm." Was all Daryl responded. He pulled the metal cigarette holder out of his pocket and opened it. Inside were three neatly rolled joints. Annabelle glanced over at the sound of the case opening, and laughed when she saw what was in there. Daryl smiled as she laughed, glad that she was doing something other than cry. He pulled one of the joints out, and put the case away. He lit the joint, took a couple of hits from it, and then offered it to Annabelle. He had no idea if she smoked or not, but it was just polite. She took the joint from him immediately, and didn't hesitate to hit it. Suppose that answered his question.

She took a couple more hits before she passed it back to him. "Thank you." She said simply. "It's no big deal." Daryl replied.

"No, I mean for everything. That, and for earlier. I would've been in some serious trouble if it hadn't been for you." She said quietly.

"You don't needa thank me for that." Daryl replied.

"No. I do." She answered. She paused for a few moments before she spoke again. "How'd you know? How'd you find us?"

Daryl hit the joint before he answered her. "I saw him leave, right after you did. He looked like he was up to no good. So I followed him."

"Thank god you did." She answered as he passed the joint to her. "I didn't suspect anything. He walked right up to me out there. I didn't suspect him for one second. He's one of Jackson's best friends. I've known him for years."

"How could you have known?" Daryl replied. "I bet he was counting on the fact that you wouldn't suspect anything from him."

She nodded to him. "I thought he was a good person. I guess I misjudged him."

"It happens." Daryl answered.

Annabelle shrugged in response, before she shifted closer to him and laid her head on his shoulder. "You're a good friend, Daryl Dixon."

Daryl felt his heart skip a beat at her close proximity, and scolded himself internally once again. He would need to get his feelings for this girl in check, sooner rather than later. He didn't respond to what she said, he just let them fall into a comfortable silence. They talked a little more, and finished off the joint. After some time had passed, Annabelle finally seemed calm enough to go home. He drove her back to her house, and dropped her off in her drive. As he was about to back out, she stopped him and jogged up to his window. He rolled down the window, and she spoke to him

"What're you doing tomorrow?" She asked him.

Daryl shrugged. "Probably nothing. Why?"

Annabelle paused for a moment, and shifted her weight from one foot to another before she finally spoke. "Maybe I'll see you tomorrow?"

Daryl smiled just slightly. "Yeah, maybe."

The blonde smiled at him before she took a step back from his truck. "Goodbye, Daryl."

He nodded to her and backed out of her drive, and headed back down the road toward his house.

* * *

Present Day

Daryl rested his head against the metal walls, and waited. He had already tried to escape his small prison, to no avail. Now, he waited with a piece of wood in his hand. He was sure the governor wasn't quite done with him yet. Daryl's blood still boiled in his veins, and images of Annabelle flashed through his mind on a never-ending repeat. Suddenly she seemed more vivid in his mind than she had been for months. He remembered everything about her. The way she smelled, her hair fluttering in the breeze, the touch of her skin on his. He remembered most her voice, and the way she said his name. He would give anything to hear her say his name one more time.

He still couldn't believe it. His Annabelle was most likely dead. How could she have survived that? How could she have had the drive to live after she had been brutalized that way? And it was entirely his fault. All of it. He could've stayed at the farm, could've waited a little longer. He could've helped her somehow. Not that it mattered now. The damage was done, and Annabelle was gone.

He felt fury in his stomach, directed at his brother. The Governor had said that he and Merle were together when they had found Annabelle. How could Merle have let him hurt her? He knew what Annabelle meant to him. Or maybe Merle had helped. Daryl had never taken his brother for a rapist, but clearly the Governor had no issues harming women. Maybe this man had rubbed off on Merle.

His dark thoughts were interrupted by the sound of people approaching. Daryl tightened his grip on his makeshift stake and stood, prepared. The door to his cage swung open to reveal three men, heavily armed.

"Put the stake down, and put your hands up." One of the men snarled at Daryl. Daryl eyed the men for a moment, sizing them up before he dropped the piece of wood and raised his hands. Two of the men moved forward and seized him, forcing his hands behind his back. He felt them zip-tie his hands together, and then they forced a bag over his head. He was completely blinded. They shoved him forward, and he lost his balance, landing hard on his knees. He heard snickers from the men before he was yanked roughly to his feet. He felt the two men grab hold of him, and they pushed him forward to walk.

He walked for several minutes, before he could hear the sound of many voices up ahead. As they approached, the sound of people got louder, and he could feel the warmth of fire, and see light through his blindfold. He recognized the sound of the Governor's voice, and felt rage rise up in him again. He was led forward more, before his blindfold was suddenly ripped off. He stood, blinded by the sudden light, and bewildered by the scene around him. There were people everywhere. They were chanting loudly, for a fight. Then Daryl looked to his left and his eyes widened in shock.

Merle.

Merle was staring back at Daryl with eyes just as big. Merle clearly had no idea that Daryl was inside this town. He glanced at his brother again, and Daryl felt a deep-set fear sink into his veins. He hadn't seen his brother in months. Almost a year. He had no idea what he had been through, or how he may have changed. He had let The Governor harm Annabelle. Merle knew how much that would hurt Daryl, he knew how he loved her. It was entirely possible that the Merle he had once known, was not the same person as he was now. And all around them, people screamed for a fight. Men with guns had their eyes trained on Daryl. It occurred to Daryl that he was probably not leaving here alive.

As fear gripped him, he felt the oddest bit of peace surround him. Maybe now, it would be over. He could leave this hellhole and Annabelle would be waiting for him on the other side. At the same time, he knew what he left behind, though. His mind wandered to the prison, where Ruby waited. He had promised her he would return. He thought of Glenn, and Rick. He had become close with both of them. He thought of Beth, Carol, Maggie, Carl, Hershel, the little asskicker. He couldn't leave them. Their chances were better with him there.

He panted and shifted his weight as fear took hold, and the Governor paced around them in a circle. The man finally stopped to stand in front of the two brothers, and Daryl swallowed hard as he prepared for what he was going to say. Suddenly, a woman burst from the crowd, and Daryl felt another ripple of shock echo through him as he recognized her too. It was Andrea.

She was pleading with the Governor. "Don't do this." She urged him, but the Governor didn't even glance her way. "He's my friend." She pleaded.

"It's not up to me, anymore." The Governor stated simply. He finally turned and looked to Andrea. "The people have spoken."

It was clear from Andrea's behavior that she was close with the Governor. But whatever relationship she had with him was clearly not enough to save Daryl at this point. Daryl looked down to the ground and shut his eyes for a moment. As he did, Annabelle flooded his mind.

For one moment, he wasn't in Woodbury. He was on Hershel's farm again, leaning against a fence. Annabelle was next to him, looking at something in the distance, her blonde hair stirring around her face. She must've felt him looking at her, because she turned her head to look at him, and smiled when their eyes met. She walked toward him, and he turned his body so that his back was against the fence. She placed one hand on his neck, and the other against his chest. Daryl leaned down toward her, and looped his thumbs through her belt loops and pulled her towards him to kiss her. Her lips were soft and gentle, and her body formed against his perfectly. She pulled away from him, but kept her forehead pressed against his. "I love you, Daryl Dixon." She whispered softly against his lips.

He was jerked away from his memory by the Governor's voice.

"I asked you where your loyalties lie. You said here. Well prove it." The Governor growled, his voice low. Behind Daryl, he felt someone cut the zip ties binding his hands, and Daryl immediately stretched his arms and twisted his wrists.

"Prove it to us all." The Governor continued. "Brother against brother. Winner goes free. Fight. To the death!"

Daryl exhaled hard at his words. He was going to die. Right here. Right now. He couldn't kill Merle. He knew he couldn't. No matter what he may have done to Annabelle, he couldn't kill his own brother. The real question was if Merle could kill him. Could he? Daryl would've said no before, but now he wasn't sure. Either way, it didn't really matter. If Merle refused to kill him, he was sure that the Governor wouldn't hesitate to kill both of them.

"Phillip please. Don't do this. Don't' do this!" Andrea pleaded one last time. But it was too late for that.

Daryl met eyes with his brother again, trying to read what was about to happen here but Merle broke his gaze and turned instead to face the crowd.

"Ya'll know me! I'm gonna do whatever I gotta do. To prove-"

Without warning, Merle turned around and punched Daryl in the stomach. Hard.

Daryl choked as the breath flew out of his body. He fell to the ground and he felt Merle's boot collide with his side. Sharp pain filled the side of his body, and the force of the kick knocked him over.

"That my loyalty, is to this town!"

Merle kicked him again. And Again. And again. Eventually, Daryl couldn't roll any farther away, and his back collided with a brazier. He panted hard on the ground, and decided that if he was going down, he was at least going down fighting. Merle kneeled down next to Daryl to punch him, but Daryl beat him to it and swung and hit Merle clean in the jaw. Merle stumbled a few feet away, and Daryl stood and stumbled over to Merle to grab ahold of him. Then Daryl heard the snarls.

Walkers appeared, led by several men, and formed a circle around Daryl and Merle. Daryl ignored that for now, and lunged to Merle, who deflected him and shoved him toward the ground. Merle knealt down next to him and grabbed ahold of Daryl. Daryl reached his arms up and grasped his brother around the neck, trying to hold him back. Daryl decided to try one last ditch effort to plead with his brother. "You really think this asshole is gonna let you go?" Daryl snarled at Merle.

"Just follow my lead, little brother." Merle countered.

Daryl felt the bare flickering's of hope in his chest. His brother wasn't lost to him. Behind Merle, the walkers closed in around them. Merle yanked Daryl to his feet, and they immediately went back to back with each other. The walkers shuffled ever closer, their snarls growing more fierce with the promise of a meal. Daryl shoved one of the creatures away from him as it approached, and behind him he heard his brother fending off the creatures. One lunged toward Daryl and he punched it, causing it to stumble away, nearly into the crowd of onlookers. Daryl prepared for the next attack, when a metallic clang grabbed his attention. He looked in the direction of the sound, and saw a small metal can rolling their way. He immediately knew what that meant. Smoke began to spew from the can.

The sound of gunfire erupted around them, and near him a guard went down. Several walkers went down as well, and Daryl began to move in the direction of the friendly gunfire.

"Rick!" He yelled through the smoke. He heard 'Daryl!' echoed back, and moved in the direction of the sound. As he was approaching, he saw one of the guards holding his crossbow.

_Oh hell no._ Daryl thought as he saw the guard looking around, terrified. Daryl came up behind the guard and hit him, hard. He snatched the crossbow from him and ran to where he could now see Rick and Maggie waiting behind a dumpster. He and Merle joined up with the two of them, and Merle immediately took the lead.

"This way!" His brother yelled. "They're all still at the arena!"

Rick hesitated and met eyes with Daryl. It was clear to Daryl that Rick did not want to go anywhere with Merle, but they didn't really have an option right now. They all followed after Merle, and he led them to the fence surrounding the compound. He peeled open the fence, and yelled at them to get through it.

"I'm not taking you anywhere with us!" Rick snapped at Merle.

"Do you really wanna do this right now?" Merle snarled right back.

Rick exchanged a glance with Daryl again before he let out a frustrated sigh and followed Merle through the fence. Outside the city, they took out a few walkers, and again Rick voiced his doubts about bringing Merle.

"I'm not bringing him back to the prison." Rick snapped at Daryl. Daryl was about to answer when Merle answered for him. "We don't have time for this right now!" Merle yelled to Rick. Still frustrated, Rick followed after Merle, and they left Woodbury.

They ran for some time, and by the time they reached the car the sun was rising. Rick yelled to Glenn through the trees, and he jogged up to meet them. But as soon as Glenn and Michonne caught sight of Merle, the whole situation went to shit.

"What the hell is he doing here?!" Glenn yelled at Daryl and Rick. Glenn whipped out his gun and pointed it at Merle, and Daryl immediately stepped in front of his brother.

Michonne unsheathed her sword and brandished it at Merle, and Rick stepped in front of Merle as well. "He tried to kill me!" Michonne snarled at Rick.

"Everybody calm down!" Rick yelled as he tried to calm the situation. But it was no use. Glenn and Michonne continued to yell at Merle, and Glenn continued to wave his gun in Daryl's face.

"Get that gun outta my face!" Daryl snapped at Glenn. He pushed the gun away with his crossbow, and it seemed like Glenn was going to back off, but then Merle had to open his mouth.

"Looks like you've gone native, brother." Merle taunted from behind Daryl.

Daryl felt anger rise up inside of him. He was at his wits end with his brother. His crimes just continued to add up against him.

"No more than you have!" Daryl snapped back over his shoulder.

"Oh, yeah. The Governor. He's a real piece of work, that's for sure. Andrea didn't seem to mind too much neither, though." Merle made eye contact with Michonne for his next words. "His been giving the wood to your girl Andrea real good."

"You know Andrea?" Rick asked Michonne, ignoring Merle as best he could. But, of course, Merle would not be ignored.

"Oh, yeah she knows Andrea. We found my Nubian queen over here and Andrea holed up together. Had been getting real cozy all winter long. Andrea was nearly dead when we found her."

"Andrea's in Woodbury?" Glenn questioned.

"Yeah. Right next to the Governor." Daryl answered darkly. She apparently had no idea how the Governor really was. At least, Daryl hoped she didn't have any idea.

"Oh, yeah." Merle continued. "She's right comfy next to him too."

"Merle, shut up." Daryl snapped over his shoulder at his brother.

"Oh, listen here. Don't you tell me to shut up! Now I'll have ya'll assholes know-"

Merle was silenced as Rick cracked him over the head, rendering Merle unconscious. Daryl didn't offer up any argument. It would be much easier to discuss Merle without actually having Merle there.

They walked a ways away from the unconscious Merle to the road, and ordered Michonne to stay put by the car. Daryl, Maggie, and Rick stood in a circle and began to discuss Merle.

"It won't work." Rick stated simply.

"It's gotta." Daryl answered. He wasn't going to budge on this subject. No one was being left behind.

"It'll stir things up." Rick answered.

"The Governor is probably on his way to the prison right now. Merle knows how he thinks, and we could use the muscle." Daryl countered.

"I'm not having him come to the prison." Maggie chimed in.

"Come one now, do you really want him sleeping in the same cell block as Beth, Carol, or Ruby?" Glenn added aggressively.

"He ain't a rapist." Daryl responded, growing frustrated. This was his brother they were talking about.

"Well his buddy is." Glenn countered.

Daryl felt the Glenn's word's echo through his body. Glenn had no way of knowing how about Annabelle, or what the Governor had done to her. And he had no way of knowing how much those words would hurt. But they did, nonetheless. And Daryl felt the sting of is failure once more.

"They ain't buddies no more." Daryl continued. "Not after last night."

"There's no way Merle is gonna live there without putting everyone at each other's throat." Rick responded. Clearly Daryl was making no progress on this front.

"So you wanna cut Merle loose and bring the last samurai home with us?" Daryl gestured toward Michonne as he responded, growing ever frustrated. He wasn't leaving Merle behind. How could he get that across to them?

"No. She's not coming back." Rick immediately responded.

"She's not in a good enough state to be on her own." Maggie threw in.

"And she did bring you guys to us." Glenn added.

Of course. They could find a reason to bring Michonne back but not Merle.

"And then ditched us." Rick responded.

_Thank you, Rick. _Daryl thought.

"At least let my dad stitch her up." Maggie finished.

"She's too unpredictable." Rick responded.

"Yeah, we don't know who she is. But Merle, Merle's blood." Daryl jumped back in.

"No." Glenn retaliated. "Merle's your blood. My blood, my family, is standing right here, and waiting for us back at the prison."

"And you're a part of that family." Rick added, making eye contact with Daryl. "But Merle's not. He's not."

Daryl took a step back away from them. Why couldn't they understand? Blood was blood. It didn't matter what Merle had done. Daryl wasn't leaving him out here alone. Not again.

"Man, ya'll don't know." He snapped at them. But they were silent, and just observed him. They had clearly come to the end of the argument, and neither side was budging.

"Fine. We'll fend for ourselves." Daryl finished.

"No." Glenn immediately responded. "That's not what I was sayin-"

"No Merle, no me." Daryl said as he cut Glenn off.

"Daryl you don't have to do that." Maggie added in, her voice soft. Daryl looked over to her, and she cast him a pleading look. He hated when women did that. He was always such a sucker for women. But he wasn't budging this time. After a moment of silence, he finally answered.

"It was always Merle and me, before all of this."

"Don't." Maggie pleaded.

"Are you serious? You're just gonna leave like that?" Glenn questioned him.

"You'd do the same damn thing." Daryl responded. Didn't any of them realize what they were asking him to do? Not a single one of them would leave their sibling out here alone. Yet Daryl was supposed to walk away from Merle without a question. Just leave him sitting on the side of the road and wave goodbye as he drove away? Were they nuts?

"Well what do you want us to tell Carol?" Glenn countered.

Daryl hadn't really thought about how the others would take his departure. "She'll understand." Daryl answered.

"And Ruby?" Maggie asked him, her voice lower. "Do you think she'll understand?"

"She'll probably understand more than Carol." Daryl replied. "But she'll hate me for it." He added as an afterthought. Ruby knew what it was like to leave a sibling behind. And she would leave them in a heartbeat if staying meant leaving Annabelle behind. Didn't mean she wouldn't be pissed as hell at Daryl though.

"Say goodbye to your pop for me." Daryl said simply to Maggie before he walked in the direction of the car. Behind him, he heard a chorus of his name, and more arguments, but he wasn't budging. He wasn't leaving Merle behind. Not again.

Rick jogged up next to him and slowed him down. "Hey. Hey." He said as he jogged up. "There's gotta be another way."

Daryl knew that for Rick, this wasn't just about sentiment. He needed Daryl around. Hell, they all needed him. The group was weaker without him.

"Don't ask me to leave him. I already did that once." Daryl retaliated as he continued to walk towards the car."

"We started something last night. You realize that?" Rick added.

"No him no me. That's all I can say." Daryl opened the trunk of the car and grabbed his bag, and began to organize it quickly. "You take care of yourself. And the little ass kicker. Carl." Daryl grabbed his bag and swung it over his shoulder. "He's one tough kid."

With that, Daryl marched into the forest, away from the only family he had known for some time now, and towards his real family. Behind him, he heard Glenn call his name one last time, but he walked on toward Merle. "Come on, brother." Daryl muttered as he approached Merle. Merle grinned with satisfaction as Daryl walked up to him, and immediately grasped Daryl around the shoulders.

They walked through the forest, and Merle immediately started jabbering away. But Daryl wasn't in any mood to talk. He had just left all of his friends, and the safety of the prison. Not to mention he had left Ruby behind. She had been the last real connection that Daryl had had to Annabelle. Now that was long gone to him. He had thought about telling Rick what he had found out about Annabelle, to relay back to Ruby. But he had decided it was better if she didn't know. Hell, Daryl almost wished that he didn't know. As Merle talked away, Daryl stared at the back of his brother's head darkly. He was going to confront him about what he had found out. He wasn't about to let that crime go unpunished. But now wasn't the time. For now, he walked through the forest alongside his brother, and waited for the right moment to confront him about what he knew.

* * *

A/N: Thank you guys for reading! I appreciate every view. Remember to leave a review for me, I do love hearing what ya'll think!


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

A/N: Thank you to all my lovelies who read the last chapter. Now, here's chapter four! Enjoy!

Thank you to my fantastic reviewers from the last chapters, 'The-Last-Timelord95', 'Rea Josette', and my guest reviewer!

* * *

July, 2000

Daryl lay against his bed as the beginnings of boredom began to invade his mind. He glanced around his room, looking for something to do, but there was nothing. He had graduated from highschool in the spring. His father hadn't bothered to attend his graduation. He had gotten a job shortly after, working at the power plant in town. He sighed out loud at the thought of having to work tomorrow. He hated his job with a passion.

At least today would be a good day, though. Whenever Annabelle decided to come and get him.

He and the blonde had become best friends after that night at the bonfire. They hung out almost every day that Daryl didn't work. And since today was one of the days he didn't work, by default, he was going to spend it with Annabelle.

It wasn't like they did much of anything, really. They just enjoyed each other's company. Daryl had started teaching Annabelle to hunt. And she was good at it. Really good, actually. He had taken her hunting with him in the winter, and she had kept right on par with him. He had just moved on from rifles and handguns with her and had started with shotguns and clay targets. So far, shot guns seemed to be her favorite. He had quickly decided after spending a couple of days shooting with her that he never wanted her to be angry with him.

She had harped on him about letting her try her hands at his crossbow, but he had told her she had to wait until after shotguns for all of that. One weapon at a time.

He was jerked from his thoughts by a soft tapping on his window. He looked over at the window, and Annabelle was waiting there. He crossed the room to his window, and opened it.

"Still haven't figured out how to use the front door?" He asked her with a smirk.

"I just take the more direct route." She responded brightly.

He laughed at her response, and climbed out of the window, landing lightly next to her. He noticed she was wearing a blue sundress today, not the jeans and t-shirt she normally wore.

"No hunting today?" He asked her after evaluating her outfit.

She shook her head and smiled at him mischievously. "I've got something else in mind."

Daryl eyed her apprehensively, which caused her to laugh and begin to walk away from him in the direction of the forest behind Daryl's house. Daryl followed closely after her, and knew immediately where they were going. When he and Annabelle had first started hanging out together, he had shown her a place in the forest. It was a large pool, about eight feet deep at its deepest point. The far side of the pool was all forest, but the part they came up on was a small, grassy clearing with a bank leading into the pool. The side of the pool nearest the mountains had a small waterfall descending into it, and across the other way the creek continued on down the mountain.

Daryl often went there to be alone, and think. But he had decided to show it to her. Her face had lit up the first time she had seen it, and ever since then it had become their unofficial meeting place. When they were both bored and hadn't really made plans to see each other, they could typically count on meeting up there. More often than not, they both gravitated toward it. It was like their safe haven.

It didn't take long for them to get there, and Annabelle immediately skipped through the clearing and towards the edge of the pool. Daryl followed more slowly behind her. He smiled just slightly was she reached toward the pool to test the water with her fingertips. With her blue sundress and blonde hair, she made Daryl think of a sunny day.

He had all but given up on his intentions not to fall head over heels in love with this girl. The more time he spent with her, the more he realized he couldn't help it. To be around her was to love her. He wasn't sure if she felt the same way about him. In fact, he was almost sure that she didn't. But he liked having her in his life. He had no intention to stop seeing her any time soon.

He finally walked up next to her at the water's edge.

"It feels chilly, but it's nice." She finally stated to him. "We should go swimming!"

He looked at her like she was crazy. "Swimming?"

"Yes!" She responded enthusiastically. She was already taking off her shoes.

"I didn't bring anything to swim in." He responded, evading the situation.

She looked at him and raised one eyebrow at him. "Oh really? I highly doubt that." Without warning, she pulled her sundress over her head.

Instantly, Daryl felt color rush into his face and he quickly averted his eyes from her. A nervous laugh came from his mouth, which caused Annabelle to burst out laughing.

"What's the matter, Daryl? Am I making you blush?"

Daryl didn't have to see a reflection to know that his face was bright red.

"It's not like I'm naked, Daryl. How is this any different from a bathing suit?" She asked him as she walked away from him. "And besides, it's not like you've never seen a girl before. From what I hear, you've been around the block a few times." That was true enough. Daryl had certainly always liked girls, and luckily girls seemed to like him back. It wasn't like he was a stranger to watching a dress hit the floor. But this was Annabelle. She was different.

Daryl finally got the courage to raise his eyes to look at her. She was just as gorgeous without clothes on as she was with them on. And he supposed her black bra and panties weren't really that different from a bathing suit. But he still couldn't stop himself from blushing. She climbed the side of the rocks to the small waterfall, and jumped off of them into the center of the pool.

She emerged from underneath the water, and looked at him expectantly. "Are you coming or am I swimming by myself?"

"I don't appreciate all of this peer pressure." Daryl called to her from the shore.

"Peer pressure?" She called back incredulously. She shook her head before she dived back underneath the water.

Daryl sighed, and took off his shoes. He had known as soon as she had made the decision to swim that he was going to have to swim. She had a way of getting anything that she wanted from him. He stripped down to his boxers, and waded into the water a ways before diving in.

He had to admit, it was rather refreshing, and had probably even been a good idea. When he emerged from under the water, Annabelle was waiting for him at the surface, looking quite satisfied. "Are you happy now?" He asked her, and she responded with a laugh. "Yes, very happy. Thank you, Daryl."

They swam for a while longer, until they had had enough. Since neither of them had planned to swim, they didn't have towels. Instead, they lay out on a flat boulder that sat next to the pool and allowed the sun to dry them.

They were laying on their stomach's, letting the sun warm their backs, when Annabelle raised herself onto her elbows and looked over at him. Her eye's widened as she looked at Daryl, and for a second he wondered what she was looking at. Then he remembered.

He had let himself forget, for just a moment. He rolled onto his back to cover himself.

"Oh my god, Daryl. How did that happen to you?" She asked him, her voice laced with worry.

"It's nothing." He replied sourly. He turned his head away from her so he wouldn't have to look at her.

She let out an annoyed huff at his response. "Oh, stop being such a baby. I've already seen them." She replied. She sat up completely and crossed her legs and continued to look at him. "Let me see them." She insisted.

"No." He replied.

"Daryl!" She snapped at him in response.

He turned his head to look at her. She was looking at him, worry covering her entire face. He had never let anyone look at the scars on his back. He didn't necessarily want to start letting people see them now. "Can you just let it go?" He asked her, his voice almost pleading.

She crossed her arms at him and stared him down. "Fine." She responded. She laid back down, and crossed her arms against the rock, and rested her face on her arms, turning it away from him. It was clear she wasn't going to talk to him anymore.

He looked at the back of her head, and let out a sigh. He shifted back onto his stomach to reveal his back, and at the sound of his movement she turned her head to look at him. She sat up and moved closer to him so that they were almost touching. She reached her hand out toward his back, and he felt her fingers trace along the scars on his back. His skin tingled as she did so, and he shut his eyes. It was almost soothing.

"Daryl, how did this happen to you?" She asked him, her voice gentle.

Daryl didn't answer her.

She was silent for a few moments as she looked at his back. When she spoke again her voice was low and soft. "Did your daddy do this to you?" She finally asked.

He didn't answer her again, but his silence was all the answer she needed.

"Why do you stay there with that awful man?" She asked him.

_For you_. Daryl thought to himself. He could move out of his father's house. He had the money to, now. But that would mean moving out of this town, and away from Annabelle. He was bigger now, his dad couldn't beat up on him like he used to. For the most part he only went home to sleep, and when he and his father did encounter each other, they typically didn't exchange words. "There's nowhere to move in this town, on my budget." Daryl responded. "I'd have to move away from here. And all my friends are here, my job is here." _You're here._

Realization dawned on Annabelle's face. "Oh." She said simply.

"It's not like it used to be, anyway." Daryl responded. "He leaves me alone now that I can fight back."

Annabelle nodded her head in response, but it was clear she was still unsettled. "I don't like it." She finally said after a few moments of silence. "You don't deserve to be treated like that. You're a good person."

Daryl shrugged his shoulders in response to her statement. He'd had his own internal battles about how his father treated him. He had finally decided he didn't deserve the abuse. He supposed it was a battle every kid that got abused went through.

"Why is it always like this?" Annabelle asked, frustration growing in her voice. "Anything beautiful and good in this world always gets messed up by it."

"You think I'm beautiful?" Daryl asked her, trying to lighten the subject.

She shoved him playfully and the smile returned to her face. "Oh, you know what I meant."

"It's just how it is." Daryl replied.

"It should be different." She answered. "Nobody should have to go through that."

"Maybe one day it will be different." Daryl replied.

Annabelle was silent for a while before she answered. "No. It won't. People will do what they do. What they've always done."

* * *

Present Day

DARYL

Daryl scanned the branches for what felt like the millionth time, and still no squirrel so much as scampered across their path. Behind him, Merle was making use of a tree. Even the sound of his brother peeing was making Daryl angry. He couldn't get over what the Governor had told him about Annabelle, and whatever part his brother may have played in it. Finally, he couldn't take it anymore. He had to confront Merle.

"You ran into Annabelle." It was worded as a question may have been, but it was definitely a statement.

There was the sound of Merle zipping his pants up, and then he sauntered over toward Daryl. "Yeah, I did. Meant to tell you about that." Merle replied. "How'd you find out about that anyway?"

"The Governor told me." Daryl replied, turning to glare at his brother as he walked up. "He told me all about you meeting up with her."

"Yeah, we ran into her at a supermarket in a neighboring town. She was set up pretty good. Had a horse, a bow and arrow, a shotgun. Looking sexy as ever, too. Heard you finally got it in with her, too. Good for you, brother."

Without warning, Daryl grabbed Merle by the neck and slammed him back against a tree. Merle let out a cry of shock, and pushed at Daryl's face with his good hand, but Daryl didn't budge. "What the hell is your problem?" Merle snapped at Daryl, his voice strained from the pressure on his neck.

"How could you let him hurt her?" Daryl hissed in his brother's face. "You knew what she was to me. You knew how I felt about her."

"What in the hell are you jabbering about?" Merle spat at Daryl.

"I'm talking about how you let the Governor rape her, you asshole!" Daryl snarled.

"What? You lost your mind or something?" Merle asked Daryl, his eyes widening.

"Don't play stupid with me." Daryl snapped. "He told me you were right there. Did you help him out, too?"

"I'm telling you, I don't know what you're talking about!" Merle replied angrily. "We ran into her at the supermarket, she told me she had been in a group with you, and that was it! She went on her way, and we went back to Woodbury! The Governor invited her back, but you could see on her face she didn't trust any of us worth a shit!"

Daryl looked in his brother's face, trying to see if he was lying, but there was nothing. As far as Daryl could tell, Merle was telling the truth. He relaxed his grip on his brother's neck, and Merle gasped in a breath and rubbed his neck. Daryl took a few steps back from his brother and stared him down.

"You didn't touch her?" He questioned.

"I didn't get within five damn feet of her!" Merle spat at his brother. "None of us did. She sat atop her horse and didn't get down so much as to shake my hand."

Daryl felt himself beginning to relax. "The Governor? He didn't touch her?"

"No. Nobody touched her. No one hurt her." Merle replied. "We had a five minute conversation, and she headed on her way, and we headed ours."

"How do you know he didn't go after her?" Daryl countered as his brother spoke.

"Because I was with him. We hit a few more shops, together, and then headed back to Woodbury. She was long gone from that town before we even finished raiding it." Merle stared Daryl down as he continued to rub his neck. "When did the Governor tell you about this, anyway?" Merle asked.

"He had me in some sort of holding room. He told me before he made us fight." Daryl replied.

"He was probably trying to rattle you up. Get you good and pissed at me before he sent us into the arena with each other." Merle replied.

"He never touched her?" Daryl questioned his brother again.

Merle raised his good hand. "I swear on my life. She rode away from us safe and sound."

Relief flooded through Daryl's system in a wave. He let out a shaky sigh, and rubbed the back of his neck. Annabelle was ok. She had never been hurt. The Governor had never harmed her. And less than four months ago, she had been very much alive. Four months wasn't that long. He had been separated from his brother longer than that, and here he was. Suddenly, hope began to replace any sorrow he had been feeling, and Daryl felt lighter than he had felt in months. Annabelle could be alive. She could really be alive. She had made it off the farm, and apparently had been doing very well for herself. He let out an anxious laugh at the thought, and then a sigh of relief.

Merle was eyeing Daryl closely, and was silent a moment before he spoke. "You really love this girl, don't you?"

Daryl eyed his brother for a second before he answered. "Yeah. I do."

"Well, shit. You really have gone soft on me." Merle teased.

"Oh, shut up." Daryl replied. He could sense where this was about to go. He began to walk through the woods, back toward the turnoff. They would have better luck at finding food if they raided one of the houses they had seen. He heard the sounds of Merle's footsteps behind him.

"I don't blame you, brother. If I ever got ahold of a pretty little southern belle like her I probably wouldn't let her go either."

Daryl shook his head and ignored his brother. He could care less about the teasing. Right now, he was on cloud nine. The odds of him finding Annabelle alive had just skyrocketed. "Did she say where she was headed?" Daryl asked his brother.

"North. That was all she told us." Merle responded. "I don't think she liked me even half as much as she liked you."

"Do you blame her?" Daryl retorted.

"I suppose not." Merle stopped talking for a moment to change the subject. "Where on earth are you walking to, anyway?"

"Back toward the turn off. We'll have better luck finding some food in one of them houses we passed earlier."

"Is that what your new best friend Rick taught you? To scavenge around for food like a hungry dog?"

"It's better than what's going on around here." Daryl replied.

"I think you're just trying to get me headed back to the road so you can get me over to that prison." Merle retorted.

"Got food, shelter, a pot to piss in. Might not be a bad idea." Daryl responded. He was already missing everyone back at the prison. He had only been gone for a short while, but it was too long for his liking. His mind kept wandering back to Carol, Ruby, Maggie and Beth. He had grown a particular fondness for all of the women back at the prison. He felt like their big brother, in a sense. And Hershel. The old man was practically an inspiration. He had bounced back after losing his leg. Rick and Glenn were his best friends. He didn't like being separated from them.

"Well, it don't matter anyway. The Governor is probably giving your friends a nice welcoming party right about now. I'm sure that any time now there won't be much left of your friends."

Daryl let out a small sigh. Thinking of his friends waiting at the prison for an attack made him depressed. But they had made it clear that Merle wasn't welcome there. He wondered briefly if they had changed their minds, but then he thought of Glenn's bashed up face. He couldn't really blame him for disliking his brother.

"How about we try to find a river or somthin." Daryl continued. "We could catch some fish."

"I suppose we could, baby brother." Merle responded. He changed the direction they were walking, and then whistled to Daryl. "Come on. Let's go snag ourselves some fish."

They walked along in the direction of the river, and Merle argued for a bit over whether or not it was the Yellowjacket river. Daryl had only been with his brother for a day and he was already getting irritated with him. He hadn't forgotten how Merle was, but compared to the mild mannered, easy-going nature of his old group, Merle was downright obnoxious. Daryl wasn't angry with him anymore, now that he had found out the truth about what had happened to Annabelle, but he certainly wasn't enjoying his brother's company.

They walked a little further, when cries echoed through the forest. He raised his hand to silence his brother's constant chatter before he spoke. "You hear that?" He asked his brother as the cry rang out again.

"That, baby brother, is the sound of two wild animals getting wild." Merle responded with a smirk.

"No it ain't." Daryl replied. "That's a baby."

"A baby? You done lost your marbles boy. That's the sound of two coons making sweet love."

Daryl rolled his eyes at his brother's response and jogged forward through the trees. As he broke through the treeline at the river, he looked to his right at the direction of the sound. Sure enough, there was a group of people, fighting some walkers on top of the bridge. From what he could tell, they weren't faring well. Immediately, Daryl jogged toward the people.

"Oh, hell. You aren't serious are you?" Merle called after Daryl.

"They need help!" Daryl called back over his shoulder at his brother.

"I ain't in the business of helping anyone that hasn't ever cooked me a hot meal or fellatiated my piece. You'd do well to adopt my perspective, brother!"

Daryl ignored his brother and continued on towards the people on the bridge. There were some walkers, but not too many to handle, provided you knew what you were doing. These people didn't seem like they were experts on the subject of walker-killing, however.

Daryl walked onto the bridge and quickly dispersed enough walkers in order to get the two men off of the back of the truck they were stuck on top of. "Come on and cover me, I'm trying to help you!" Daryl yelled to the men, who responded in Spanish. _Great_. Daryl thought briefly. Daryl glanced behind him, and Merle was strolling along, taking his sweet time. Apparently he wasn't going to be much help either. Daryl ran over to the car, where there was a woman trapped inside holding a crying baby. The baby was just drawing more and more walkers. Daryl dispersed the ones outside of the car, before snatching the walker that had crawled inside of the car out and slamming its head in with the trunk door. The last couple of walkers were easy enough to take out, and Merle raised his gun only once to help out. When they were all dead, Daryl started to gather his arrows. He halted his progress when Merle approached the car and opened the door, and began rummaging through the supplies in it.

Annoyance and discomfort prickled in Daryl's veins. He didn't help these people just to have Merle immediately steal from them. One of the men began yelling at Merle, and as he did, Merle raised his gun on the man.

"Back off, Beaner." He snapped to the man.

As the racial slur came out of his mouth, Daryl felt his annoyance increase. "Leave 'em be, Merle." Daryl ordered his brother.

"We just saved their lives. The least they can do is give us an enchilada or something." Merle remarked back.

Daryl walked around the car and readied his crossbow. He nudged Merle just barely with it, and ordered him again. "Get out of the car."

"Now I know you ain't talking to me, brother." Merle replied to his brother. Daryl nudged him with the crossbow again, and Merle backed out of the car. He turned around and locked eyes with his brother, and Daryl felt the slightest ripple of fear pass through him, but he didn't back down. He wasn't going to let Merle bully him into allowing him to harm these people.

"Get in your car." Daryl ordered the men. They stared at him in shock for a moment, and Daryl spoke again. "Get in your car. Go!" This time, they heeded his warning and jumped into the car.

Merle shoved Daryl's crossbow away from his face with the back of his hand, and gave Daryl a frustrated look. Daryl didn't say anything to his brother, just marched away from him.

He had made the right decision in helping those people. Shit, if more people helped each other out in this apocalypse, maybe more humans would be alive than walkers. Besides that, he hoped it was good karma. Maybe one day, if he needed help, someone would help him. And maybe, wherever Annabelle was, if she needed help someone would help her.

They trudged along for a while longer, eventually venturing back into the woods. They stayed silent, but Daryl could feel the tension growing thicker between them with every step. Finally, Merle broke the silence.

"What the hell is your problem?" Merle finally snapped at him. "We saved their lives. They owed us."

"They didn't owe us nothing." Daryl replied to his brother.

"So you just run around helping people now without anything in return? Is that what your sheriff Rick taught ya? Some sheriff. He left me up on that rooftop to die."

"Enough already!" Daryl snapped at his brother. "I went back for you! You were already gone. You had chopped off your hand and left. But you know something? You had lost your hand way before they ever locked you on that roof. You know why? Cause you're a simple-minded piece of shit!"

"You listen here now-" Merle began. He reached forward and grabbed onto Daryl's shirt roughly. Daryl hadn't been expecting it, and he stumbled forward as his brother grabbed him. He felt his back pack slide off of his shoulder and hit the ground, and then heard the tearing of his shirt. Immediately, he felt the air on his back, and he quickly went to cover it. Behind him, he heard Merle take several steps back and begin to stutter.

"I-I-" Merle began. Daryl knew what he was seeing. A crisscross of scars over his back. Their father had been a fan of punishing his sons with the metal end of his belt. The memories he had buried flashed through his mind, and for a moment he could feel the pain of the cold metal on his back once more.

"I-I didn't know he was doing that to you too." Merle finally got out.

"Well, he did." Daryl responded. His voice was shaking, and he didn't bother to hide it. The abuse that had been part of his past was a dark memory, one that brought back a turmoil of emotions. He tried to put what was left of his shirt back together, and swung his backpack back onto his shoulders.

"If I had known-" Merle began. "I had to get out of there. I would have killed him if I had stayed."

"Like hell you did." Daryl snapped back. "You were doing what you did best. Leaving. That's what you always did." With that, Daryl stood and started marching away from his brother.

"Where are you going?" Merle called after him.

"Back where I belong." Daryl answered.

"I can't go back there with you." Merle responded, his voice beginning to shake now. "I tried to kill that bitch. Nearly beat the Chinese boy to death."

"He's Korean!" Daryl snapped at him.

"Whatever!" Merle called back.

"You know something." Daryl said as he looked at his brother. "I may be the one walking away, but you're the one that's leaving." He turned his back on his brother again, and began walking in the direction of his home. It didn't take long before he heard his brother scrambling behind him to catch up.

They walked in silence for a long while longer, until eventually Daryl knew they were nearing the prison. He couldn't help but to feel excited at the prospect of seeing everyone again. But then he heard the gunshots.

It was automatic weaponry. The shots rang out through the forest. And he knew if he could hear them, every walker in the area could too. "Come on!" He yelled back at his brother as he began to run full speed through the trees. But the shots kept firing, and Daryl's legs couldn't carry him fast enough. There was a pause in the gunfire for a few minutes, before some final shots rang out, and then nothing.

_No. No, no no. _Daryl thought urgently. Was he too late? The bodies of Carol and Ruby flashed through his mind, and he pushed himself into an even harder run.

When he burst through the trees, there was no sign of the Governor anywhere. But the prison yard was filled with walkers. On the outside of the fence, he saw Rick struggling with two of the creatures. He ran forward and shot one of his arrows at one of the walkers, and Merle ran forward to attack another. They quickly dispersed the group around Rick, and Rick gave a grateful nod to Daryl, which Daryl returned.

The yard was filled with walkers, and Daryl, Rick, and Merle did some selective shooting and fast running to get back inside the prison. Once they were back inside, Daryl was immediately greeted warmly by the others. Merle, however, was locked safely in another room.

Ruby stayed back a ways, and was the last to welcome Daryl back. "So, you finally decided to wander back home, huh?" She asked him as she leaned against the prison wall, her arms crossed as she looked at him. Daryl was slightly disappointed that she wasn't happier to see him, and he was sure it was visible on his face. But she didn't say anything else to him, and averted her eyes from him.

The group discussed their next move. After some smartass comments from Merle and some debating from the rest of the group, it was determined that for now, they had to stay put. They couldn't leave with the Governor's scouts guarding all of the roads. Maybe once things cooled down they could send an envoy to Woodbury.

The group separated, and Daryl exchanged a few words with Hershel before he headed in the direction of Ruby's cell. He had to tell her what he had found out about Annabelle.

Ruby was sitting on the bed reading when he walked into the room, and he knocked on the doorframe to let her know he was there.

"Hey." He called to her as he leaned against the door frame.

"You done breaking your promises yet?" Ruby replied without looking up from her book.

"I came back." Daryl replied.

"Yeah. Only after you left." She retaliated.

Of course, she was going to be difficult before she forgave him. "Are you gonna keep holding that against me, or do you wanna have an actual conversation?"

She finally looked up at him from her book, and Daryl took that as an invitation to take a few steps into her cell.

"I found out some good news. About Annabelle."

Immediately, Ruby's entire face lit up. "Annabelle?" Her voice barely came out of her throat. It sounded more like an excited whisper than anything else.

Daryl smiled slightly at her excitement, glad to have someone around who cared as much as he did. "Yeah. Merle saw her. About four months ago. She was alive and well."

"Really?" Ruby asked him.

"Really." He replied.

She squealed excitedly and jumped up from her bed to clap her hands together. "Where was she? Where was she going?"

"They met in a town just a little ways from here. She said she was headed north, but didn't say where." Daryl replied. He could feel his own excitement building up, matching Ruby's.

"This is incredible. She survived the farm. I can't believe this." Ruby rubbed her forehead in disbelief before she looked at Daryl again. "You were right all along."

Daryl shrugged. "I had to believe she was ok."

"But she really was! She was all that time." Ruby responded. "If she survived the farm, and survived the winter, she could be alive right now. We could find her again. Hell, she could find us!"

Daryl nodded again, and Ruby let out the first laugh that Daryl had heard in months. "We're gonna find her again, Daryl. I know it." The girl said excitedly.

For the first time in months, Daryl believed that. He really believed it. One day, he would find her and hold her in his arms again. And he wouldn't give up until he did.

* * *

ANNABELLE

It had been almost a week since Annabelle had left the safety of her barn. When she was leaving the barn, she carved her name into the wood of the barn door, with the date underneath it. She had been keeping the date since the night that she had been separated from the group at the farm. Every house that she stayed in, she carved her name, and the date into somewhere visible. Usually a front door, in good sized lettering. Her hope was that if Daryl ever happened to come across the same place, he would see what she had left and have a chance at knowing she was alive and ok. He might be able to find her if he passed soon enough after her. Even if he couldn't find her, he would know that she had been alright and alive when she had wrote the note. She had departed immediately after etching her name into the wood. She let her fingertips linger on the etched in words for one moment, and then she walked away, and mounted her horse.

Now, almost a week after that, she was Gypsy's hooves plodded along the highway that winded through the mountains. She had started getting into more extreme hills a few days ago, and now she was well into the mountains. Just as she had started getting into the mountains, she had started finding the bodies of walkers along the mountain highway. At first, she wasn't sure why. And then she had seen why. On one side of the highway was a steep drop off down the side of the mountain. And to her right was a cliff face. She had been riding along when she had heard the sound of a walker snarling above her. She had halted Gypsy and backed away from the cliff, and the walker had walked right over the edge. And straight to his death. The walker fell and splattered on the concrete, his head busting as it hit the asphalt. The walkers were already in a progressed state of decay, and it didn't take much for them to break apart. That explained the bodies, and why she had seen less and less walkers as she went further into the Appalachian mountain range. Any walkers that managed to get up here were killing themselves. And any walkers that had originally been created up here were either stuck in valley's or had tumbled down a mountainside.

There weren't many large populations of people in the mountains, anyway. Not compared to down south. So far, this seemed like the perfect place.

Annabelle glanced down at the map she was holding. She should be coming across a small town, soon. Maybe in another hour or so. She could scavenge some food there, and then hole up in a house on the outskirts for the night.

She continued to ride for another hour or so, and then the town came into view. She encouraged Gypsy into a lope, and rode into the town. Everything seemed quiet, and she looked around for anything that looked like it might be worth searching through. She finally came upon a supermarket of some kind, but froze when she saw the vehicles outside it. There was a military jeep, and an SUV. They didn't look like the other vehicles in the lot that looked like they had been stationary for some time. These looked like they had just pulled in.

She didn't have time to finish her thought process when she saw movement from inside the supermarket. Several walkers stumbled out of the building, and Annabelle climbed down from Gypsy. The horse took several steps away from the walkers, but she didn't run away. Annabelle pulled out her bow and arrow, and shot both walkers in the head with ease. She saw more movement from inside the supermarket, and another walker emerged. She pulled another arrow back, and was prepared to shoot it, when suddenly she saw something rushing out of the market. She took a step back, and two men emerged. They were dressed in civilian clothing, but had military-grade protection on, including helmets that obscured their faces. The man in front quickly stabbed the walker in the head, and the thing fell to the ground. As the walker fell, the man then saw Annabelle standing behind it. He immediately sheathed his knife, but Annabelle saw the automatic weapons they had hanging from their sides. She put her bow and arrow away and whipped out her pistol to point it at the man's head. He immediately put his hands up, and the man behind him did the same. Behind her, Annabelle heard her horse let out a nervous whinny, and she turned her head to see two more men with automatic weapons coming up from behind her. "Shit." She muttered out loud.

"Hey, hey, it's alright. We're not gonna hurt you." Came a voice from behind her. She turned around again to face the men that had come out of the supermarket. "Yeah?" Annabelle countered. "I've heard that before."

"Look, I promise. We're not gonna hurt you." The man took off his helmet and lowered his weapon to the ground. "See? I don't wanna hurt you." He gestured for his men to do the same, and they all lowered their weapons and removed their helmets.

"My name is Logan." The leader of the group said. He seemed to be almost forty, and was a decently good looking man. He had dark brown hair, and five-o-clock shadow around his face. But there was something unusual about him. About all of them. And then it occurred to Annabelle. They were clean.

And by clean, she meant it looked like they had showered within the last day. Their clothes were clean, and they were shaven. Their hair was cut. They looked good, and most importantly, they looked healthy. She lowered her suspicions just slightly, and eyed the men. "Who are you people? Where are you from?" She asked them.

"Can't I at least get your name?" The man, Logan, asked her.

She met eyes with him, and she wasn't afraid. She didn't feel anxious, not like she had when she had run into Merle and Phillip. She looked around at the rest of the group, and realized she felt the same way about all of them. She met eyes with Logan again, and his face was relaxed, and easy. She realized he had been in this situation before.

"Annabelle." She answered him carefully.

"Alright, Annabelle." Logan continued. "We're part of a colony, of sorts. A group of survivors. A large group of survivors. We live in a place called Haven."

"How many survivors?" She questioned him again.

This time, the man standing beside him answered. He was younger, and looked to be in his mid-twenties. "About one-hundred and fifteen."

One-hundred and fifteen? Annabelle's mind reeled at the thought of so many people. "What?" Was all she could manage.

"I know it sounds shocking. But I promise, it exists." Logan responded. "There are men, women, children, elderly. We have food, water, shelter, and protection. Medication."

Annabelle's mind continued to reel in shock at his words. "You're lying." She responded. She took a step toward him and kept her weapon directed at him, and he took a step back and held his hands up.

"I know it sounds too good to be true." Logan replied. "And it wasn't always like it is now. Me and a few other people built it from the ground-up to what it is now." He let out a sigh before he continued. "Let me re-introduce myself. My name is Captain Logan Weiss. I'm an ex-navy seal. Before all of this, I worked for the secret service. I'm going to reach into my pocket, alright? There's a badge in there that will verify what I'm saying to you." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a wallet, and tossed it to her. She opened it, and inside she saw a secret-service badge verifying his name. She examined it for a moment before she tossed it back to him.

"Why are you telling me all of this?" She asked him, apprehensively.

"Because." He responded. "I want you to come back with us."

* * *

A/N: Oh, dang! Annabelle has just found some real contenders in the apocalypse. This group could be just the thing that she needs right now.

Anyway, thank you for reading! Please remember to review, your reviews make me so happy and they encourage me to keep writing.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

A/N: A big thank you to everyone who read my last chapter! Here goes nothing!

A shoutout to my reviewers, 'Ms Marvel Dixon', 'mrskaz453', and 'Rea Josette'.

For anyone who's curious, here are the actors I picture for my O/C's:

Annabelle Miller- Brooklyn Decker

Ruby Miller- Anne Hathaway

Logan Weiss- Gerard Butler

* * *

Present Day

ANNABELLE

"You're joking, right?" Annabelle replied to Logan. "You think you can wave around a secret service card and I'm just gonna follow you off into the mountains? I don't know if you've noticed, but this isn't exactly the United States of America anymore."

Logan looked at her for a moment before he responded. "I can see where you would have doubts-"

"Doubts?" She asked him incredulously. "I was in Atlanta. I was in the refugee camp. The one my government told me to go to. I sheltered inside an apartment building while my own government bombed me."

"I was there too." He replied. "I know what happened in Atlanta."

"Then you know exactly what I'm talking about. They bombed us and left us to die in that city." Annabelle replied, her voice laced with anger. "I was trapped inside a building with my sister, and three men. Three military men. Part of the United States Army. And things didn't turn out so well with them. When the world goes to hell, people change."

Logan's face fell slightly at the anger in her voice. He let out a heavy sigh, but began to speak again. "Look, I know you have no reason to trust me. But you know you're safer in a group. People are the best defense against the Changed. And we're making a stand against these things. A real stand. We're not just surviving at Haven. We're living."

Annabelle lowered her weapon slightly as he spoke, and for the first time since she had met these men, listened to what he was saying. He was right. It was exhausting being alone. She had no one to watch her back, no one to help with finding food. And no one to help her if she ever got hurt.

Besides that, without a group, she could never really look for Daryl and Ruby. Leaving the safety of whatever place she was staying was too risky. There was no guarantee when she came back that her temporary home would still be hers. It could get taken over by other survivors, or the walkers could invade it. Without her there to defend it, whatever security she had could be lost. Besides that, the last place that she knew they had been had been in south Georgia, and there was so many walkers. Without someone to watch her back, it would be too easy for a walker to sneak up on her and take her down. And by leaving the safety of her camp, she opened herself to the possibility of getting injured. She had already been injured on her own once, right after the farm. She had sprained her ankle, and had nearly been killed by walkers several times because of her lame leg. If she got hurt on her own, badly hurt, she would be completely screwed. And she would never find Daryl if she was dead. She had no idea where to even begin searching for them, and with no safe place to return to she would end up living on the road again. And that life was awful, too. She had nearly starved living on the road.

Stability and other humans were necessary for survival. She had been much better off when she had been with her group before. If she got healthy again, and had a place to return to, she would have a much better shot at finding Daryl and her sister. Provided they were still alive.

He took one step toward her as she began to lower his weapon, and raised his hand in a sort of peace gesture. "We need every person we can get if we're going to survive this. And you can obviously handle yourself." He gestured to the two zombies with arrows sticking out of their heads.

"How long has it been since you lost someone?" She asked him.

"Six months." He answered her. "And never inside of the city."

Her head reeled at the thought. Six months without a single loss? That was insane. When she had been with the group at the farm, the funerals had never stopped. She thought of all the people that had been lost in the group. She had met the group when they had been making their way to the CDC. Jaqui, Otis, Sophia, Dale. She had watched Jimmy get eaten alive inside the RV. She was sure that even more people had been lost the night the herd blew through the farm, she just had no way of knowing who had been lost that night.

"That's a long time." Annabelle finally replied.

"It is." Logan replied. "And it's not six months of running, of fear. We _live_ there, Annabelle. There are families. Children go to school. We had a wedding a few months ago."

Children and weddings. Annabelle couldn't hardly believe what she was hearing.

"You can't tell me you're not tired of running." Logan said again, his voice lower this time.

She was tired. Not just physically, but emotionally. She was exhausted. She needed to be around people, and she needed to have a good nights sleep. If this place was everything he promised that it would be, she would be safe there. Then it occurred to her. With a safe place to return to, this could be just the thing she needed to find Daryl.

Her heart surged at the thought of her hunter by her side again. Logan's words echoed in her mind. Children and weddings. She missed the sound of children desperately. And if she ever found Daryl again, they could get married. She could have the life with him that she should've had years ago.

Running by herself was getting her nowhere. Eventually, she would slip up. Something would happen. Either she would make a mistake, or get injured or sick. And there would be no one around to take care of her. And if she was dead, she would have no chance of seeing Daryl again.

Annabelle finally lowered her gun completely and holstered the weapon. "How far away is this place?" She asked him finally.

As she holstered her gun, the men relaxed completely. "About an hour and a half from here by car."

Annabelle turned around to look at Gypsy. "I'm not leaving her behind." She stated simply.

"I wouldn't expect you to." Logan replied. "We have a horse trailer in Haven. If you want to come with us, I can send for it."

Annabelle looked at Logan for another moment. She hated this. She hated having to decide in a split second on the character of a person. She evaluated him. Everything about him. The way he stood, the way he looked at her, the way he spoke. After several moments of deliberation, Annabelle finally spoke.

"Ok. I'll come with you."

Logan nodded to her, and immediately began giving orders to his men. "Chris, Matt." He called to the two men behind Annabelle. "Take the SUV back to Haven. Wait there until the morning and come back. It's getting late, and I'm not risking traveling at night."

"What about you?" One of the men asked back.

"Luke and I will stay here with her." Logan responded, referring to the young blonde man next to him. "Be back here between nine and ten tomorrow morning. We'll be waiting for you. Use your walkies when you get close."

The men gave sounds of affirmation, and walked back toward the vehicles. They climbed into the SUV, started the engine, and then they were off.

Just like that. In a matter of fifteen minutes, the entire course of Annabelle's future had just changed. She started second guessing herself, but immediately wiped the thoughts from her mind. She couldn't afford to second guess herself now. Her choice was already made.

"We should start looking for shelter." Logan stated to her. "It'll be getting dark in a few hours."

"Yes. You're right." She said simply. She walked over to Gypsy and grabbed ahold of her reins, and clicked to her softly to get her moving. "I saw some houses standing alone on my way in. A few of them had sheds that we might be able to keep Gypsy in for the night."

"We'll check them out." Logan replied. After some discussion, it was decided that Logan and Luke would ride in the military jeep, and Annabelle would lead on Gypsy. Annabelle climbed on top of the horse, and waited until the men were in their car before she urged Gypsy into a trot. She led the way out of the parking lot back to the main road, and once they were there she urged the horse into a canter. She headed back in the direction of the houses, and sure enough the town eventually became more sparse, and a couple of stand alone houses appeared. She surveyed all of them for a moment, before picking out a white two-story farm house. It had a small white fence around it, and a shed in the back. She pointed to the house and looked back at the car, and received a thumbs up from Logan.

As she approached the house, she almost found it funny how quickly she easily settled into the routine of being in a group again. She had been alone for eight months. Yet she immediately felt the familiarity of being in a group. And it was nice to know that there were people here that were going to protect her. And she was going to protect them. Hell, it was nice to have someone to talk to.

They approached the house, and the boys pulled up in front of it. Annabelle dismounted from her horse, and walked Gypsy through the gate into the yard. She dropped the reins, and Gypsy didn't move. The horse was trained to ground-tie.

Logan and Luke followed close behind her. "I'll clear the yard." Luke offered. The young boy jogged forward toward the edge of the house, and peeked around the edge before he disappeared into the backyard. It didn't take long before he reappeared. "All clear." He announced as he returned around the corner. "There's a berry bush in the back we might want to check out later, though." He added as he came up to stand next to them.

"Alright." Logan replied. "Let's clear the house. Luke, take the top floor. Annabelle and I will take the bottom level. After that we can look around the area, see if there's anything worth grabbing."

As a group, they walked toward the house. Logan pulled out a flashlight a knife, and Logan did the same. Annabelle took out her bow and arrow and proceeded behind the men.

Logan opened the door. It was unlocked. They walked into the main foyer, and ahead there was a staircase. Luke headed up the stairs immediately, leaving Annabelle and Logan on the bottom floor. "We'll stick together." Logan whispered to Annabelle. "Cover my back."

She nodded to him, and together they walked through the house. They checked all closets in all of the halls, and covered all of the rooms on the first floor, splitting up only briefly. After they had checked every room, they went back to the foyer to wait for Luke. He reappeared shortly afterwards, and announced that the upstairs area was clear.

"I'm gonna go see if I can't clear out the shed for Gypsy." Annabelle told the two men. "I'll get those berries, too." She added.

"We'll work on securing the house for the night." Logan responded.

Annabelle went into the kitchen, and it didn't take her long to find a Tupperware to keep the berries in. After she had found that, she went to the porch and left the Tupperware there temporarily. She rifled through her bag and found the halter and brush she used for gypsy, and walked down to the horse, that was happily munching away at some tall grass.

Annabelle removed the bridle from the horse and replaced it with the halter. It wasn't much of a change, since Annabelle didn't use a bit with the horse, but it was slightly more comfortable for her. She hung the bridle on the fence, and did the same with the blanket and saddle she removed from the horse. She brushed her down quickly, and used a hoof pick on the horse, before she left the horse to roam the enclosed yard.

Annabelle approached the shed, which was part of the way open. It looked like it had primarily been a gardening shed. Inside, however, she found a toolbox. There was a hammer in there with plenty of nails, along with a few other tools. She took the toolbox inside of the house and found Logan and Luke taking the cabinets apart in the kitchen. She entered the room and placed the toolbox on the table. "Useful?" She asked them as she placed it down.

Luke wandered open to inspect its contents and nodded. "Yes. Thanks." She nodded to the two of them before she headed back outside and to the shed. She cleared the shed of most of its contents, and kept in there only a sawhorse to keep the saddle on. As she cleared out the shed, she heard her horse approach outside of it, and begin to graze just next to the shed. Annabelle couldn't help but to smile at the horse. She had tended to follow Annabelle around the barn whenever she would be doing any sort of work on it. Annabelle supposed it was curiosity and the need for companionship that kept the horse close. From inside the house, she heard faint sounds of hammers, and assumed the boys had started boarding the place up.

She moved the tack into the shed, and found some rope that she could use to hold the doors of the shed shut for later that evening. Once she had finished everything she needed to do so far as her horse was concerned, she focused on finding the food that Luke had mentioned. Sure enough, there was a wildly overgrown blackberry bush in the back yard. She began picking the fruit from it, and it wasn't long when she heard the sound of footsteps behind her. She turned around to see Logan standing behind her.

"Done already?" She asked him before she continued picking the fruit.

"For the most part. We don't have a lot to work with, but it should be fine for just tonight." He replied. "Luke's finishing up with the last of it in there. Is there anything you need?"

"I actually do need to get her some water." Annabelle replied, gesturing to the horse. "I found a bucket in the shed when I was clearing it out."

"There's a little creek not too far from here. I can handle it for you." Logan replied.

"Thanks." Annabelle responded before she went back to getting the berries from the bush. She didn't hear footsteps at first, as though he was lingering like he wanted to say something to her. But after a few moments he walked away.

She finished up with the berries and headed inside to check on Luke. Sure enough, he seemed to have secured the house as much as he could. He and Logan had busted down the cabinets in the kitchen and nailed them up strategically to cover most of the windows. They didn't have enough wood to cover the whole entire windows, but no walkers would be able to crawl through them. They wouldn't be staying long and wouldn't be causing enough activity to cause anything to attack them. But he had drawn all of the shades in the place shut and hung sheets on the windows that didn't have curtains. That should block out any movement that outside would see. Next to the front door, a table was in place that they could push to block the door shut at night. The back door was already blocked off.

"Where'd Logan go?" Luke asked as she entered the house. His voice was coming from the living room, and she walked into the room to see him standing on top of a table, hanging a sheet. "He went to go get some water for the horse. He'll be right back." Annabelle responded. Luke nodded in response to her answer. "There's some bedrooms upstairs I figured we could use." Luke continued to her as she entered the living room. He was hopped down from on top of the table and walked over to her. "A nice big bed for you to sleep on in the master. You use like you could use a good nights sleep."

She was sure that compared to them, she looked like a mess. "Are you trying to say something about how I look?" She asked Luke.

The young boy immediately back tracked. "I- uh- no. I didn't mean it like that." He stammered.

She smiled just slightly at him. "I'm only messing with you. I know I look like shit."

He gave a nervous laugh in response to her statement, and Annabelle continued talking to him. "Black berry?" She asked him, extending the Tupperware forward toward him. He reached forward and took a handful of the fruit and popped a few into his mouth. "Thanks." He said to her as he chewed.

"You guys fixed this place up quick." Annabelle commented.

"Uh, yeah." Luke replied. "We do a lot of runs outside of the town, have to stay out overnight sometimes. So you get pretty good at it."

"Why do you guys go on so many runs if you have food at the town?"

"Knowledge, mostly. It's good to know what roads are open, what places are safe, what places aren't. In case something should ever happen and we need to evacuate Haven. And solar panels. We need as much renewable energy as we can get." Luke replied. "Sometimes we need specific items like certain medicines. And we look for survivors."

"The town has electricity?" Annabelle asked.

"For the most part." Luke answered. "Nothing crazy like A/C, unfortunately. But we have lights, and enough power to work power tools and build. We can run fans. We do have specific buildings that get a lot of power to them that have a lot more going on than the basics, but you'll see all of that when you get there. Hopefully one day the entire town will be running on full power. But we're not quite there yet."

Annabelle nodded in understanding. Having electricity again would be nice.

"Do you want to put your stuff upstairs?" Luke asked her, gesturing to the backpack she had hoisted onto her shoulder.

"Oh. Yeah." She replied. Luke took a step toward her and offered his hand out to her. "I can take your bag if you want."

She looked at him for a moment, slightly surprised. It was funny how you forgot so quickly about manners when you were living in survival mode. She handed the bag over to him. "Thanks." She replied.

He took her bag and she followed him upstairs. He led her to the master bedroom, where the bed was still set up. "I didn't take any of your sheets." He stated to her as he placed her bag next to the bed.

"Where are you and Logan going to stay?" She asked him.

"Across the hall. There's a bedroom over there. We'll be sleeping in shifts, so we don't need two rooms."

"I can join in too-" Annabelle started.

"It's ok." Luke cut her off. "How many solid nights of sleep have you had in the last few months?"

"Not many." She admitted.

"Well, we've had plenty of good nights. We can take one bad one." He responded. "Don't worry about it. You get all the rest you need. You'll be busy tomorrow getting moved in and settled in, getting to know your way around. You're gonna be glad you got to sleep."

"Alright." She responded. "Thanks." She wasn't really sure how to react. She wasn't used to others being around to watch her back. Most nights she practically slept with one eye open, keeping alert to every sound. Since she had left the barn she had barely been getting any sleep. Any little noise had woken her right up.

"Is there anything else we need to do to get the house ready for tonight?" Annabelle asked Luke.

"Just close the shades on the second floor." Luke responded.

"Well, we might as well get it done." Annabelle replied.

The boy nodded and exited out of the room, presumably to get started on the task. Annabelle walked around her room and shut all of the blinds on the windows. It didn't take long to do that, and when she was done she went to go find Luke. She had more questions about this town.

He was exiting the other bedroom just as she found him. "So, what is Logan, exactly?" Annabelle asked. "Is he your leader or something? He's obviously important."

"Very important. But not our leader. That's a different man's job." Luke responded. "Logan's in charge of everything defensive about the colony. He designed its structure, the walls, how we go in and out, etcetera. He sets up the guard shifts and trains anyone who shows military promise. And, he usually leads a small group once a week to go scout, look for supplies and survivors. I'm sure he does more stuff that I don't even know about."

"He sounds like a busy guy." Annabelle replied.

"Yeah. I wouldn't want his job." Luke replied with a laugh. "I'm perfectly happy following him around and doing what he says. He's never led me astray. He found me and my girlfriend, actually. We owe him our lives. We were half starved and on the way out when he found us."

From downstairs there was the sound of a door, and Annabelle assumed that meant that Logan had returned. Annabelle turned and looked down the stairs, and sure enough Logan was at the bottom of them.

After hearing what Luke had said, Annabelle felt a new feeling of respect as she looked at him. He obviously had a lot of responsibilities, but still he had taken the time to help her out with her small task. She was certain this wasn't something he only did while outside of the town. Hearing the way Luke talked about him, she was sure he was well respected within their community.

Luke walked down the stairs ahead of Annabelle, and she followed closely behind him.

"Good work, Luke." Logan commented as he looked around the house.

"Thanks." The boy replied brightly as he reached the bottom of the stairs.

"Your horse is all taken care of." Logan added as Annabelle reached him.

Annabelle nodded to Logan, and he spoke again. "We got an hour or so of daylight left. There's a few houses nearby that might be worth checking out, but I don't know that they'll have much in them. If you want to stay here, Luke, I can take Annabelle with me and see what our new recruit is made of."

Annabelle raised an eyebrow at Logan and crossed her arms at his statement. "What I'm made of?" She replied. "I'm curious to see if Navy Seals are all they're cracked up to be."

Logan smiled slightly at her sassy response. "Come on." He said to her. Annabelle picked her bow and arrow up from beside the front door and followed Logan out of the house, while Luke stayed behind.

She followed closely behind him as they approached a small cabin. Logan peeked inside of the windows of the cabin. "There's Changed in there." He stated as he backed away from the window. "Think you can handle it?"

His tone was playful, and Annabelle realized that his motivation for the teasing was to get her talking. From what Luke had told her, he had rescued many survivors. He was drawing her out of her shell.

"Watch and learn, Mr. Weiss." She replied. Annabelle approached the door, and it was locked. She turned around and looked at Logan. "You must not be from Georgia." She stated to him.

He looked confused for a moment. "How do you know that?"

"If you were from Georgia, you would have some southern manners. In the south, you always get the door for a lady."

Logan laughed aloud at that, and Annabelle moved to the side. She notched an arrow in her bow, and Logan looked to make sure she was ready. When she nodded to him, he kicked the door in. He moved to the side quickly to allow Annabelle to take the lead. She stuck her head inside the house and whistled loudly before back tracking to stand in the yard.

A walked appeared in the doorway, and Annabelle released her arrow at the sight of it. It hit the walker in the eye, and the creature went down. Behind it, another appeared, and it received an arrow through the head. A third appeared after that, and received an arrow through the head as well.

Annabelle waited a moment, but no more walkers appeared. She walked forward and removed her arrows from the walkers, and notched the last one and entered the house. Logan followed behind her, shining a flashlight. She checked each of the rooms, and no more walkers were seen anywhere. After they had cleared the last room, Logan finally spoke.

"Nicely done." He praised her.

"I didn't survive out here this long for nothing." Annabelle replied simply. She and Logan began searching the house, and Annabelle didn't see very much. The house only had two bedrooms in it. In one of the bedrooms the closet was still full of clothes. "There's clothes in here." Annabelle yelled to Logan.

"In this room too." He called back. "I'll see if there's trash bags or something in the kitchen."

After a few moments, he reappeared with a trash bag, and Annabelle threw the clothes inside of it. She carried the bag back out and into the living room. There, she found Logan with a beer in his hand, and a case of beers next to him.

"Nice to see you working hard." She commented as she dropped the bag on the ground.

He smirked at her comment before replying. "I found them in the fridge. Want one?"

"Sure." Annabelle replied. "Nothing quite like warm, flat beer."

He tossed her one of the cans and she opened it and took a sip from it. She hadn't tasted alcohol since the CDC. Despite the beer being warm and flat, it was delicious. "I never thought warm beer could taste so good." She commented after her first sip.

"Right?" Logan replied. They both finished off the cans quickly, and threw them aside. Logan had Annabelle carry the beer, while he carried the two bags of clothes. They returned to the farm house, where Luke was sitting in a chair on the front porch waiting for them. Gypsy was out front as well, grazing, and the horse nickered at the sight of Annabelle returning. Logan put the bags of clothes in the jeep, and Annabelle brought the beers over to Luke. "Nice find." He commented as he took one of the beers, and Annabelle laughed in response.

Logan returned from the jeep with some food. "It's getting dark out." He commented as he walked up. "We should head inside for the night."

"I'll put Gypsy away." Annabelle stated. She descended the steps to the porch and walked up to the horse. The horse nudged her affectionately as she walked up, and Annabelle led the horse to the shed. She shut her in the shed and closed the doors behind the horse. She secured the doors shut, and as she did she felt guilty. She didn't like locking her up like that, but it was for her own good. Hopefully where they were going would have a stable, and a nice stall for the horse.

When she returned to the house, darkness had almost set in. She walked in the house and shut the door behind her. As she did, Luke appeared, and pushed the table in front of the door. The three of them ate at the kitchen table by the light of a lantern, and Annabelle practically inhaled her food. It consisted of things she hadn't eaten in a long time. Fresh fruit and vegetables, some smoked meat, and even some bread.

After dinner they went upstairs, and Luke blocked off the stairwell with a dresser.

"Get some rest." Logan told Annabelle. "I'll wake you up in the morning. You're gonna have a long day tomorrow."

Annabelle nodded to Logan and bid him and Luke goodnight before she went to what had been designated as her room. She changed out of the clothes she had worn that day, and into some sweatpants and a t-shirt she had been using as pajama's. Now that she was alone again, her mind did what it always did. Think of Daryl.

She didn't know where he was. But as she kneeled by the edge of her bed and prayed as she did every night, she prayed for him. She prayed for his safety, and hoped that wherever he was he was alive and well. She prayed for Ruby as well. And above all else, she prayed they would all be reunited soon. She crawled into the bed, and as she did her body practically sank into the mattress and she let out an audible sound of relief. It had been a long time since she had slept in a bed.

It was a big bed, probably a queen size, and the first thing she noticed about it was how empty it felt. She extended her arm out toward the empty side, and shut her eyes, fighting back tears. Daryl should be with her. She knew that if she had him, loneliness would never even cross her mind. As long as she had known Daryl he had made her feel wanted.

She thought back to the last time she had slept with Daryl. It had been at the farm, when they were still sleeping in the tents. For a while, Annabelle had shared a tent with her sister. But after some time her sister had seemed fine with Annabelle leaving her there alone, and she had switched into Daryl's tent.

He held her like it was their last night they would be together. He'd had no way of knowing that it would be. He held her like that every night they stayed together. He always stroked her hair gently and would whisper in her ear to her. Sometimes they just talked, about anything. About the future, about what had happened that day. Sometimes he'd whisper that she was beautiful. But always he told her how much he loved her. He'd stroke her hair until she fell asleep, nestled against his chest or with his arms wrapped around her as they laid side by side.

The last night they had stayed together she had slept on his chest. He had stroked her hair until she fell asleep in his arms, and the last thing she remembered him saying was that he loved her.

She cherished that memory. She thought of it almost every night before she went to sleep, but on this night it was particularly painful. For whatever reason, the gaping bed made her heart ache more than the hay bales at the barn ever had. Maybe it was because this place looked like a home, and it could've been their home. Or maybe it was just that the empty space next to her made her feel lonely. Whatever it was, it didn't change how much she missed him. She quickly pulled her arm back from the empty side of the bed and brushed a tear away from her face. She rolled onto her side, and tried not to think of how much she missed him. Rather, she focused on the memory of his voice, and of the gentle soothing tug of his fingers in her hair. She let the memory consume her, and she quickly fell into a deep sleep, filled with warm dreams, where Daryl had never left her side.

_Feet don't fail me now_

_Take me to the finish line_

_Oh my heart it breaks every step that I take_

_But I'm hoping at the gates they'll tell me that your mine_

-Lana Del Rey, Born to Die

* * *

A/N: There's chapter five! No Daryl this chapter, sorry my loves. But he will be back in the next chapter, I promise. Let me know what you think of the story so far, and of Annabelle's decision to go to Haven!


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

A/N: Wow! I got a ton of reviews and support for the last chapter! Thanks so much for everyone that's read the story so far! And thank you to all my reviewers!

Ok, so here's a shout out to all my reviewers! Thank you to,

'Lorrainenicole', 'The-Last-Timelord95', 'Smittendebs', 'mrskaz453', 'ILuvOdie', and 'Rea Josette'

* * *

_I'll find the places where you hide_

_I'll be the dawn on your worst night_

_The only thing left in your life_

_Yeah I would kill for you, that's right_

_If that's what you wanted_

_If that's what you wanted_

-One Republic, What You Wanted

August, 2000

ANNABELLE

Annabelle sat in the passenger seat of her sisters car as they drove into town. Her sister was playing country music loudly, and had a cigarette between her ruby red lips. Annabelle smiled as she looked at her sister. It was funny how different they were. Ruby was a wild child, to say the least. Her parents liked to refer to her as the 'free spirit' of their family. She had just graduated from college the previous semester, and had come back to live with their family until she found a stable job and got her own place.

They were driving into town to meet up with Daryl, and his older brother, Merle. Ruby said she knew a place where the bartenders were lax and would probably serve Annabelle. It had been Annabelle's suggestion to invite along Daryl. And when she had mentioned to him that her big sister was in town, he mentioned that Merle was in town, too. Daryl had expressed concern over whether or not Ruby would be able to get along with Merle, and that he could be an asshole. Annabelle had a feeling Ruby would be just fine.

No sooner had she thought that, when a car in front of Ruby cut her off. She immediately laid on the horn of her car and sped around the car to pull up next to him. She promptly flicked the other driver off and yelled, "Asshole!" At him, before she sped up ahead. Annabelle laughed aloud at her sister as she did that.

"Don't let anybody walk all over you, Annabelle." Ruby said as she took the cigarette out of her mouth. "Mom and Dad are all about 'manners' and 'being polite'. The real world ain't polite."

Annabelle laughed again. "I swear, there's no way we're related."

"What'd you mean?" Ruby replied. "Look at us. We're both great looking, smart, southern bells. I just happen to be a little bit more rough than you. Mom and Dad didn't shelter me as much as you."

"If you say so." Annabelle replied.

Ruby turned down the music in her car and started talking to Annabelle again. "Who on earth are we meeting, again?" She asked Annabelle.

"Daryl and Merle Dixon." Annabelle replied.

"Merle Dixon?" Ruby asked. "How'd you get mixed up with him?"

"You know Merle?" Annabelle asked Ruby, surprised.

Ruby raised her eyebrow at Annabelle. "Is there anyone I don't know in this town?" She replied. Her older sister took another drag on her cigarette before she continued talking. "Yeah, I know Merle. He's a few years older than me, but we ran in the same party circuit for a little while. He's a hound dog if I ever met one, let me tell you. How do you know him?"

"I don't." Annabelle replied. "It's Daryl I know."

"He's the baby, right? The one we had at our house that one time? With the fire?"

Annabelle nodded. "That's him."

"How'd you get mixed up with him?"

Annabelle thought back to the night at the bonfire, and unpleasant memories flashed through her head. If Daryl hadn't been there, she would've been in big trouble that night. "It's a long story." She replied.

"Well, alright. If you say so." Ruby replied to her. It didn't take them much longer before they drove up to this hole-in-the-wall bar. Annabelle recognized Daryl's truck outside of it, and figured they must already be here.

They got out of Ruby's car and walked toward the bar. Ruby walked just ahead of Annabelle, and Annabelle smiled just slightly as she looked at her sister. The girl was walking up to the bar, hips swaying back in forth. Her blue jeans were skin tight, and her cowboy boots crunched the gravel with every step she took. She was wearing a tank top to complete her look, and Annabelle was sure she would turn heads as soon as they walked into the bar. Annabelle had chosen a strapless black sundress with tiny multicolored flowers on it. She was rocking cowboy boots just like her sister, though. Annabelle had to admit that together they made a pretty great pair.

Ruby walked through the door and marched right into the bar, Annabelle following right behind her big sister. Daryl and Merle were standing next to the bar. It looked like they had just gotten there. They turned their heads as the girls entered, and so did every other person in the place.

"Well I'll be damned." Merle stated simply as Ruby walked up to them. "If it ain't Ruby Miller!"

Ruby immediately gave Merle a giant hug and kissed him on the cheek, leaving a big red kiss mark there. "You still the same hound dog I remember, Merle Dixon?" She asked him, causing the man to laugh.

"Even worse." He replied.

Ruby laughed at that, and Annabelle walked up to stand next to her sister.

"This your little sister?" Merle asked as Annabelle walked up.

"It sure is. This is my sweet little Annabelle." Ruby replied. "And get your eyes back in your head Merle Dixon! She is off limits to the likes of you."

"She can make up her own mind on that subject!" Merle replied. He took Annabelle's hand and kissed it. "Pleasure to meet you, little miss." He stated simply.

Annabelle laughed at the gesture and Daryl nudged his brother away from her.

"This must be Daryl Dixon, then." Ruby stated as Daryl made himself visible. Daryl nodded in response. "That's right." Daryl answered.

Ruby looked him up and down, and Annabelle laughed aloud at the expression on Daryl's face as she did so. Ruby turned to look at Annabelle and remarked, "Well, he sure has grown up quite nicely, hasn't he?"

Daryl's eyes widened in surprise at Ruby's bluntness, and Annabelle laughed and pulled Daryl towards her. She sat down at the bar and Daryl sat to the left of her, while Ruby sat to her right with Merle.

"Hey!" Ruby yelled to the bartender, who was talking to some customers on the other side of the bar. He turned around like he was about to be annoyed, and then took a look at the girl yelling at him and seemed to change his mind. He walked over to her and asked, "What can I get for you, sweetheart?"

"I'll have a Corona, and get my friends here whatever they like. Oh, and four shots of Fireball." She requested of the bartender.

He quickly got all of their orders, and before long, their drinks and the shots were in front of them. Annabelle inspected the shot, and turned to look at her sister. "What is this?"

"It's whiskey. It's good." Annabelle gave her sister a skeptical look. "Oh, just drink it." Ruby replied to her sister.

They all took the shot, and Annabelle couldn't complain. It was a good shot, and tasted like cinnamon candies. After she had finished the shot, she turned to look at Daryl, who was setting his shot glass down.

"Are you sure you're related?" Daryl asked Annabelle and Annabelle laughed in response.

"Pretty sure." She replied.

"And to think I was worried about her and Merle getting along." Daryl replied with a smirk.

"Ruby's pretty capable." Annabelle replied. "Although, I didn't anticipate that they would know each other." Annabelle added as an end remark. "Not that well, anyway."

Daryl nodded in response and took a sip of his beer. Annabelle and Daryl were soon left alone at the bar, as Merle and Ruby walked over to the pool table to play a game of pool.

"So, how's your job been going?" Annabelle asked Daryl. "I haven't seen you in a little while."

Daryl scoffed and shook his head. "Shoot. Same as always. Shitty." He took another sip of his beer before he talked to Annabelle again. "How about you? Did you convince your parents to let you go to school?"

Annabelle shook her head. She had been trying to talk her parents into letting her go away for college, so that she could get a teaching degree. She wanted to teach elementary school, but her parents weren't so keen on letting her go to college. They had sent Ruby away to college, and she had turned into what she was now. Not that she wasn't a party animal before, but it was much worse now. Annabelle's parents intended to shelter her as much as possible, and groom her for her inevitable engagement to Jackson White. They wanted her to be a good, southern lady, and a suitable wife for Jackson.

She didn't necessarily mind that. She could be a housewife, and a socialite. But part of her just wasn't in it. Part of her wanted something else.

"It'll work out." Daryl replied to her. "They sent Ruby to college but they won't send you?"

"I think they're afraid I'll become another 'free spirit'." She replied.

Daryl laughed. "Is that what they're calling it?"

Annabelle nodded in response and smiled slightly. "Ruby's great, though." Annabelle stated. "She's a little rough around the edges, but she's awesome."

Annabelle and Daryl talked a little more before Merle and Ruby walked back up to them.

"Ever played pool before?" Merle asked Annabelle as he walked up to them. Annabelle shook her head no. "Well come on, little lady. I'll teach ya." Merle stated.

"You best be nice to my little sister." Ruby stated to Merle as she stared him down.

"I'm as nice as they come." Merle stated to Ruby. "Now come on, Annabelle."

Annabelle cast her sister an unsure glance, and Ruby nodded to her sister. "You go on. I wanna have a little chat here with Daryl." Ruby stated.

Daryl's expression changed from relaxed to nervous instantly, and Annabelle laughed at the expression on his face.

Ruby sat down next to him at the bar and pulled out a cigarette and lit it before she spoke to Daryl. "Oh, don't you worry Daryl. I don't bite much."

* * *

DARYL

As Annabelle walked away with his brother, and Ruby sat down next to him, he felt a nervousness enter his system. It must've been all over his face, because Ruby brought it up again.

"Oh, relax Daryl. I'm not gonna hurt you." She said after she took a puff of her cigarette. He pulled out one of his own, and lit it.

"What you wanna talk about?" Daryl asked her.

"My sister."

Daryl immediately turned to meet eyes with the girl. "What about her?"

"Why don't you tell me?" Ruby questioned him. "Ya'll just friends or what?"

"We're friends." Daryl answered.

Ruby looked at him for a moment and then rolled her eyes. "That's the biggest crock of bullshit I've ever heard." She stated simply. "You're in love with my sister."

Daryl looked over at Ruby and felt his heart rate quicken, but he kept the expression out of his face. "Why do you say that?"

"I saw it as soon as we walked in tonight." She stated simply. "I saw it in the way you look at her."

Daryl didn't say anything to the girl, just took another drag on his cigarette.

The girl studied his face for a moment, before she looked over at her sister, who was playing pool with Merle. Daryl turned to look at her too.

Annabelle had made a pretty awful shot, and Merle laughed along with her as they watched her scratch the ball. Merle fetched the ball for her and let her try again. It warmed his heart to see that Annabelle was able to get along with Merle. Not many people were. But she was just like that by nature. Easygoing and fun. It was hard not to like her.

It was clear what her problem was with pool. She wasn't aggressive enough when she hit the ball. But Annabelle was gentle, and Daryl couldn't see her even hurting a fly. He watched her take Merle's advice on getting the shot better, and when she made a successful shot she clapped her hands together excitedly. Daryl smiled as she clapped her hands together and took another sip of his beer. Annabelle looked over at them from the pool table, and called out, "Did you see that?" To Daryl across the bar. Daryl nodded at her, and the girl cast him a smile before she turned to talk to Merle again. Daryl was brought back to his conversation with Ruby when she started talking again.

"It's painted all over your face." She stated simply.

Daryl sighed heavily and turned to face Ruby. "You gonna tell me to stay away from her? Cause it's not gonna happen."

"No." The brunette said simply.

Daryl felt surprised at the brunette's statement. He could've sworn she was going to scold him about this.

"I wished I had someone that looked at me the way you look at her." Ruby said simply. "And I think that it's really sad that you two can't be together."

"You never know." Daryl responded. He had been telling himself for a long time that he couldn't let his feelings get ahead of him. After all, Annabelle had a boyfriend. But lately he had started to feel like maybe the feelings weren't entirely one sided. He wasn't sure if it was hopeful thinking, or if Annabelle was actually sending him the signals he was picking up. But lately things had been different with them. She stood closer to him, touched his arm, brushed by him. He was beginning to think it was possible for something to happen between them.

"No. I do know." Ruby said to him more sternly.

"And what is it you know?" Daryl responded back, a little harsher than he meant to.

"I know that she's in love with you too. And it's about the damn cutest thing I've ever seen. But it will not work, Daryl."

Daryl felt like his heart stopped for a second at her words. He completely ignored the second half of her statement and focused in on the first part. The idea that Annabelle had any feelings for him at all was enough to give him hope. But love? That was his ideal situation.

He then focused on the next part of her statement. "Why won't it work?" He stated simply.

"Because it can't." She replied. "Firstly, because I don't even think Annabelle realizes how she feels about you. She's convinced herself that you're her best friend, but I think it's just a cover up because she loves Jackson, too."

Daryl let out a frustrated huff at her words, but didn't say anything yet.

"And secondly, because rich girls don't marry poor boys. What would you do with a girl like that, Daryl? Just look at her." Ruby flicked her cigarette before she returned her eyes to Daryl. "Do you think my family would ever support her being with you? They've been grooming her into marrying a boy like Jackson White since she was a little girl."

"So what?" Daryl responded.

"So that's it, Daryl. She's not gonna abandon her family. Family is everything. And our family will not support her marrying someone like you. My father seems like he's a good, southern man, but make no mistake. His reputation and good name mean a lot to him. Way too much. And he didn't become the owner of million dollar company by playing nice."

Daryl paused for a moment and considered his words carefully before he said them. "I'd be better to her than Jackson could ever be." He began. "Because you know, as well as I do, that it doesn't matter about the money. It matters about the people you surround yourself with. That's why you're how you are, isn't it? You got tired of all the fake people, and the politics. You didn't want to be a part of that, so you went the complete polar opposite of it."

Ruby surveyed him carefully for a moment. "You're smarter than you look, Daryl Dixon."

"I think that was supposed to be a compliment." He replied.

"It was." She answered. She paused for a moment before she continued. "I couldn't stand it, you're right. I hated the dinner parties, the socials. I hated going and talking to all of these people and pretending to be interested in their boring lives. I hated being an heiress, so I opted out. But Annabelle is good at it. She loves people. She'd be happy with Jackson."

"And she'd be happy with me, too." Daryl responded back immediately.

Ruby studied him again, before she shook her head and smirked. "I like you." She finally said.

Daryl was caught off guard by the sudden change in her demeanor. "What?" He said simply.

"I like you. I like your spunk. And I like how much you love my sister." She finally stated. "And I like you way more than I like Jackson White."

"What does that mean?" He asked her abruptly.

"It means I'll help you as much as I can." She finally stated.

Daryl was completely shocked by her statement. "Weren't you just telling me it would never work two minutes ago?" He asked her.

"Kind of." She replied. "I was just checking to see if you actually care as much as I thought you did." Daryl shot her a confused look, and Ruby began to explain herself. "I still don't know that it will work. But I want my sister to have all of the happiness in the world. And I think that you'll make her happier than Jackson White ever could."

* * *

Present Day

DARYL

Daryl stood in a circle with the rest of the group inside of the prison. They were discussing the walker situation that the Governor had created in the prison yard.

"We could put someone up in the guard tower." Daryl suggested. "Have them take out enough walkers so that we could get some people to move some cars and block the way in."

"We'll exhaust our ammo before we make a dent." Hershel replied.

"So we're trapped in here?" Glenn snapped. "Our supplies are low enough as it is."

"We've been there before. We can make it again."

"That's when it was just us. Before we had a snake in the nest." Glenn hissed to Daryl, gesturing in the direction of Merle.

Daryl felt anger flare up inside of him. He understood that they didn't want Merle here, but this was how it was. It was too late to change it. "We gonna go through this again?" He snapped back at Glenn. "He's here. He's staying. Get over it."

"Hey," Rick said as he raised his hand. Daryl didn't feel like hearing a lecture from Rick, so he just silenced him.

"All of ya'll." He directed at Rick. With that, he jogged up the stairs to his own cell, and sat down on his bed with a frustrated sigh. He had known the group wasn't going to accept Merle, but Rick and Glenn gave him nasty looks every time he walked by them. He wasn't used to being the odd man out in his own home, and he didn't like it one bit.

He heard the sounds of footsteps, and then he saw Ruby appear in the doorframe. She had just been a part of the group planning, and must have followed him when he walked away.

"Hey." She called to him. She had forgiven him for breaking his promise after he had given her the good news about Annabelle, and now their friendship was back to what it had been.

"Hey." He muttered back.

She walked into the cell and sat next to him on his bed. "They don't get it." She said simply to him. He didn't say anything in response, just shrugged his shoulders. "I just gave them an earful." Ruby commented, and Daryl looked over at her slightly surprised. "What'd you say?" He asked her.

"That they needed to stop being assholes and get over it. You'd lost enough already, and they owe you their lives."

Daryl smirked slightly. "I'm sure Rick had a polite response for that."

"I walked away before he said anything." She replied with a smile. "I know Merle. Don't get me wrong, he's a jackass. But I know he cares about you. I don't think he would deliberately do anything that would hurt you or the people you care about. As long as you're with us, he will be too."

Daryl nodded to her. "It's nice to know I've got someone on my side."

"I'm always on your side, Daryl." She responded. "You haven't forgotten everything I did for you way back when, have you?"

Daryl shook his head slightly and blushed. Ruby had helped Annabelle sneak out of her house to see him way back when. And he was sure that the brunette had influenced Annabelle in his favor when it came to finally admitting how she felt about Daryl.

Ruby smiled at the blush on his face. "You're a real sweetheart underneath that entire rough exterior. It's nice to see it come out of you every now and again." With that, the brunette stood and walked away from him. "I'll talk to a few of the others and see if I can't convince them that having Merle here will do more good than it will bad. And I'll have a talk with your brother, too. Maybe I can charm him into being a little nicer."

"Thanks, Ruby." Daryl replied.

Ruby shrugged in response. "Don't mention it." She walked out of the cell and he slowly heard her footsteps fade away.

Daryl leaned back in his bed and rested his head against the pillow sitting there. He shut his eyes, and as he did he began to contemplate their situation with the Governor. There wasn't any easy way out of this. No matter what happened, Daryl had come to accept the fact that people were going to die, on one side or the other. He was just going to have to do anything in his power to keep the number down to a minimum on their side. He reached toward his bag, where his arrows were waiting. The least he could do for now was prepare more ammunition.

He wasn't alone much longer before he had another visitor.

Carol appeared in his doorway, and leaned against the door frame. She cast him a gentle smile, and he couldn't help but to return it just a little bit. He respected this woman, and she typically brightened his day.

"I haven't got a chance to say it yet. Welcome back." She said simply as she smiled at him.

Daryl scoffed just slightly at her words. "To what? All this?" He replied, gesturing to his cell with the arrow.

"This is our home." Carol replied as she sat down on the chair in his cell.

Thinking about the Governor's impending attack had left him with morbid thoughts in his head. "This is a tomb."

"That's what T-Dog used to call it. I thought he was right, until you found me." Carol replied.

Daryl felt some warmth at the memory of finding Carol. Just when he had given up, there she had been. Like a beacon of hope for him.

"He's your brother." Carol continued.

Daryl had a feeling that this was about Merle.

"But he's not good for you." Carol finished. Daryl supposed Carol would have the most experience out of any of the people in the group with being stuck with people that were no good for you. "Don't let him bring you down."

Daryl met her eyes, and she continued with her final statement. "After all, look how far you've come."

One corner of Daryl's mouth turned up in a smile, and he laughed just slightly. Carol laughed, too, and he knew she was recalling the same man he had been almost a year ago. Funny how things change.

* * *

A few hours later, Daryl had been prepped the inside of the prison for the impending attack, when suddenly the alarm was sounded. He ran outside of the prison with Rick, Merle, and Glenn, and saw Andrea heading up their drive with a walker on a control stick.

"Are you alone?!" Rick yelled to her as she walked up towards the gate.

"Rick!" Andrea yelled back, her tone sounding disbelieving that he was questioning her. But they couldn't be too careful. Daryl had seen firsthand just how close she was with the Governor. Daryl kept his eyes trained on the outside of the prison, waiting to see if anyone was waiting. This could be some kind of a trap.

Rick grabbed her roughly when she entered the prison rec area and immediately pressed her against the fence to search her. When walkers came up and grabbed the fence, and she yelled, Rick pulled her away from the fence and pointed his gun at her. "Get down on the floor. Now!" He ordered her. She did as he said. "I asked you, are you alone?" He snapped at her again.

"I am." Andrea replied, her voice filled with disbelief.

After Rick had thoroughly searched Andrea, he finally spoke again. "Welcome back." He barked. "Get up."

Along with the rest of the group, Daryl headed into the prison with Andrea. Upon walking in, he walked over to one of the tables and sat on top of it, and turned to face Andrea. He was sure she had something to say to them, otherwise she wouldn't have come here.

Carol immediately descended the stairs when they walked in, with Ruby right behind her. Both women greeted Andrea warmly, and Daryl was reminded that while they had been at the farm, Andrea and Ruby had become pretty good friends.

After Andrea had greeted both women, she turned around and began looking at the group. "Hershel, my god." Was the first thing that Andrea said as she looked at Hershel. The old man stood on his crutches and looked back at her but didn't answer.

"I can't believe this." She said, her voice shocked. She began to look around more quickly, searching. Searching for the rest of the group. And now it would come. Daryl would have to relive their death toll.

"Where's Shane?" She asked. She looked to Rick, questioning, but Rick just shook his head. "And Lori?" Andrea continued. Rick looked at the ground, and didn't answer. Hershel answered for him.

"She had a girl. She didn't survive." He stated simply.

"Neither did T-dog." Maggie threw in.

The look on Andrea's face mirrored Daryl's own thoughts.

"Carl, I'm so sorry." She offered the boy, but he didn't reply. She looked to Rick, "Rick, I-" She began, but stopped herself. Sometimes words just weren't enough.

She looked around the group again, and her eyes landed on Daryl ,and then jumped across the group to Ruby. Daryl looked at the ground and shut his eyes tight for one moment and exhaled as the flood of emotions began to hit him. He knew who she was about to ask about next.

"Annabelle?" She asked Ruby, her voice full of disbelief.

"She went missing." Ruby replied. "That night, at the farm. She got separated from the rest of the group."

"Oh, Ruby." Andrea replied. Ruby let out a heavy sigh, and gave a terse nod to Andrea before she turned her eyes away from her. Andrea then turned to look at Daryl.

"Daryl…" She began.

Daryl just sniffed and shook his head. He didn't want this right now. It was bad enough to have to think about what happened. Talking about it was a whole separate issue.

But she continued. "Oh, god Daryl. I'm so sorry." Andrea said to him, her voice filled with remorse.

He raised his eyes to look at her, and as soon as he did, her eyes fell to the ground. He didn't know what expression was on his face, or what look was in his eyes. All he could feel in every bone in his body was how much he missed her, and how guilty he still felt about that day. Whatever look he had given to Andrea had said everything he needed to say.

Andrea let out a heavy sigh before she attempted to get the conversation going in a more positive direction. "You all live here?" She asked them all.

"In the cell block." Glenn replied.

She pointed in the direction of the cell block. "Here? Well can I go in?" She asked, taking a step toward the cell block. Rick immediately stepped forward and cut her off.

"I won't allow that." He stated sternly.

"I'm not an enemy, Rick." Andrea replied.

"We had that field, and courtyard." Rick continued. "Until your boyfriend broke the fence and shot us up."

"He said you opened fire first." She responded.

"He's lying." Rick countered.

"He killed an inmate who survived in here." Hershel stated to Andrea simply.

At the mention of Axel, Daryl chimed in. "We like him. He was one of us." He said simply.

"I didn't know anything about that. As soon as I found out I came." Andrea replied to him.

From the look of shock on her face, Daryl decided that he believed she wasn't here because the Governor had sent her. But it was clear she couldn't see the devil standing right beside her. And that was an issue.

"I didn't even know you guys were in Woodbury until after the shootout." Andrea stated.

"That was days ago." Glenn countered.

"I told you, I came as soon as I could." She stated.

She looked around at the group for a supporter, but no one stood to help her.

"What have you told them?" She finally demanded, rounding on Michonne.

"Nothing." Michonne replied, her signature stoicism present in her voice.

"I don't get it." Andrea responded, getting frustrated. "I left Atlanta with you people and now I'm the odd man out?"

"He almost killed Michonne, and he would've killed us." Glenn snapped.

"With his finger on the trigger!" She responded, pointing to Merle. "Isn't he the one who kidnapped you? Beat you?"

Daryl waited for someone to voice out against his brother, but no responses came. Tense as his brother's position at the prison was, at least they all understood their need to stay united.

"I cannot explain, or excuse what Phillip has done." Andrea began. "But I am here trying to bring us together. We have to work this out."

"There's nothing to work out. We're gonna kill him. I don't know how, or when, but we will." Rick stated simply.

"We can settle this." She tried again. "There is room at Woodbury for all of you."

Merle scoffed at her words. "You know that ain't true." He stated.

"What makes you think he wants to negotiate?" Hershel questioned. "Did he say that?"

"No." Andrea admitted.

"Then why did you come here?" Rick asked her, his voice wearing thin with impatience.

"Because he's gearing up for war." Andrea declared. "The people are terrified, they see you as killers. They're training and preparing to attack."

"Well you know what?" Daryl finally stated, his anger at the situation beginning to spill over. "You tell Phillip, that the next time I see him, I'm gonna take his other eye." Daryl hated the Governor. He hated everything about him. It was pure chance that Daryl had found out that Annabelle hadn't actually been attacked by him. If Merle hadn't been able to escape with them, or if something had happened to his brother and Daryl never got the chance to talk to him, he would have never known that Annabelle had been okay. Who knows what would have happened to him. He could've been driven mad by the guilt and the anger that had tormented him. Every night, he would have been stuck with the nightmares. The Governor knew what a lie like that would do to Daryl, and he had fed it to him anyway. He had wanted Daryl to suffer.

"We've taken too much shit for too long." Glenn stated. "If he wants a war, he's got one."

Andrea turned to face Rick again. "Rick. If you two don't sit down, and talk this out, I don't know what's gonna happen. He's got a whole town."

Rick didn't respond, and she turned around to face the group again.

"Look at you all. You've lost so much already. You can't stand alone anymore."

"You wanna make this right?" Rick asked her. "Get us inside."

"No." Andrea stated immediately.

"Then we got nothing to talk about." Rick stated and walked away from her.

"There are innocent people!" She called after him, but Rick didn't turn back or respond.

The room filled with silence, and Daryl shook his head and stood. Rick was right. There was nothing more to talk about.

* * *

Daryl was on guard duty later that day when he heard the sounds of footsteps behind him. He turned around and saw Andrea approaching him. She walked up to stand beside him, and looked at him for a moment before she began to speak.

"I just spoke with Ruby." She stated. "She told me about what Merle said. About how Annabelle could still be alive. That's good news."

"Yeah." Daryl responded. There was silence between them for a moment before Daryl spoke. "He's not what he seems. The Governor. He's lying to you." He told her finally. She looked at him like she was about to rebuke him, but Daryl shook his head and she paused to let him finish speaking.

"When he was holding me, before he pitted me and my brother against each other, he was keeping me in a holding room. He came to see me, while I was in there, and told me a lie. About Annabelle. He told me that he had met her in that market and raped her, and left her to die. And he told me Merle let him."

Shock filled Andrea's face, but Daryl kept going. "He did it hoping to get me worked up enough at Merle that I would kill him. He sat there with me, and told me about what he did to her. And then walked away and let me believe it was true. If I hadn't escaped with Merle, or if Merle had been killed, I would have never known what really happened. I would've had to live with that image painted in my head as the truth."

Andrea didn't say anything to Daryl, but she set her eyes to look at the ground.

"Look," Daryl continued. "I don't know what you think you feel for him, or what you think he feels for you. But I can tell you, it's not real. He's a liar, he's a killer."

"You're a killer." Andrea replied. "You've killed people."

"Yeah. And so was Annabelle. She told me when we were at the CDC that she killed two men in Atlanta that attacked Ruby." He paused for a moment before continuing. "You really wanna tell me that you believe that she and I are the same as him?"

Andrea didn't answer, just looked away from Daryl. After a couple of moments of silence she finally responded. "I'm sure Phillip has his reasons for doing what he has done."

Daryl scoffed. "Yeah. I'm sure he does. I hope that whatever reason he has for wanting to kill all of us is a good one."

* * *

Annabelle

Annabelle jumped when she was woken. At first she was dazed and confused, trying to remember where she was, but then the events of the previous day came flooding back to her.

She blinked the sleep out of her eyes, and then she recognized Logan standing next to her bedside.

"It's almost time to go." He told her. "We'll leave here in about twenty minutes."

Annabelle nodded and rubbed her eyes. "Everything went ok last night?" She asked him.

"It was quiet all night." He told her. He walked away toward the open door to her room, and he paused when he reached the door. "Come downstairs when you're ready." He said simply. He exited the room and closed the door behind him.

Annabelle stretched before she climbed out of the bed. She rubbed her eyes and let out a huge yawn. That was the best sleep she'd had since she had been forced to leave the safety of the farm.

She walked over to her bag, and quickly got dressed. After, she went to the bathroom and pulled her hair up into a ponytail before she went downstairs to meet with the two men.

They were waiting patiently for her when she got down the stairs. When she appeared, they grabbed their bags and pushed the table away from the door. They opened the door, and the two men walked outside with their weapons raised. Annabelle followed behind them and raised her bow. Logan went around one side of the house, and Luke around the other. Annabelle looked to the road with her bow raised. It didn't take long before the two men reappeared, and announced that the yard was clear.

Annabelle made her way across the yard to the shed that she had kept Gypsy in overnight. She opened the shed, and the horse immediately came out of the shed. It didn't take her long to get the horse ready. Just before they left, Annabelle walked up to the front door of the house and took her knife out. She carved her name into the door, the date, and the words 'going to find a sanctuary.' She put her knife way and turned around to find Logan giving her a puzzled look.

"What was that for?" He asked her.

"I'm looking for some people." She responded. "Even if I don't find them, and they never find me, maybe one day they'll come upon these writings and know that I was ok at the time. And that I could still be alive."

Logan nodded his head in understanding. "I hope you find them one day." He replied.

She nodded in response, before she walked up to Gypsy and climbed on top of the horse. The two men walked up to the jeep and got in it, and then the three of them departed.

They reached the supermarket, and Annabelle quickly killed two walkers that were wandering aimlessly through the parking lot. After she killed them, she hopped down from her horse and collected the arrows she had fired. She walked over to the jeep when she was done, and Logan and Luke hopped out of the jeep.

"How long till they get here?" She asked them.

"They should be here within the hour. They'll radio me when they get close." Logan replied. "Then it will take us about an hour and a half to get back to Haven."

"Are the roads blocked?" Annabelle asked them.

"No. Not from here to there. We've been working on clearing the highways in the area immediately surrounding the colony. There's still a lot of work to be done though. The area north of the colony is still largely blocked off. We couldn't do a lot of work over the winter because of the snow in the area."

Annabelle took the tack off of Gypsy and put it in the back of the jeep. She wouldn't need it in the trailer, and there was no point in waiting until the trailer got there to take it off.

They waited a little longer, and then there was a static crackling from Logan's walkie. Then voices came through.

"Hey, Logan, you hear me?" The voice sounded.

"Loud and clear." He replied.

"We're about five minutes away. We'll be there shortly." The voice came again.

Annabelle felt anxiety fill her body and her heart began to race. She was terrified to go to this place. She had no idea what it would be like, or if it was even everything that it was cracked up to be. What she hoped for was a sanctuary. Somewhere to keep her safe, where she could recover from everything she had been through, and get her old strength back. She could only imagine what she could be capable of when she was at full mental and physical capacity. She might be able to make some real progress on finding her sister and Daryl.

It didn't take long before a truck showed up, towing a small horse trailer behind it. The truck pulled into the lot, and two men jumped out of it. Logan went to greet them, and they greeted each other warmly. Annabelle was introduced to the two men. One of the men was older, maybe in is fifties, and his name was Robert. The other man looked to be a little older than Annabelle, and was called Max.

They opened the horse trailer, and Annabelle led Gypsy into the trailer. The horse was nervous at first, but eventually she walked into the trailer. After she was loaded in, they wasted no time in preparing to leave.

"You can ride with us, in the jeep." Logan informed Annabelle. "It'll be more comfortable than trying to squeeze into the back seat of the truck."

"Alright." She replied. She walked up to the Jeep, and Logan waved at Luke to tell him to get in the back seat. Annabelle climbed into shotgun and shut the door. Logan got in the driver side and put the keys in the ignition. The jeep roared to life, and Annabelle let out an anxious sigh. This was it.

The jeep began to roll, and they started toward Haven.

They zoomed through the mountains, and Annabelle stared distantly out of the window. She couldn't believe where she was going, or all of the changes that had happened to her since she had left the safety of her barn. She was about to be around people. A lot of people. For the first time in a long time.

They rode for a while, before Logan pulled out his walkie and began talking on it.

"This is Logan Weiss. Do you read me?"

A voice immediately responded over the walkie. "Yeah, Logan, I hear you loud and clear. What's your location?"

"I'm approaching the outer gate."

"Alright. See you soon."

Sure enough, in a few minutes, they reached a gate that barred the road completely across. The road was only a two lane road that wound through the mountains. On one end of the gate was a drop off into a valley, the other side the beginning of a mountainside cliff.

Luke jumped out of the back seat and ran up to the gate. He fiddled with it for a moment, before he pushed it open and waved Logan though. Logan drove through the gate and waited on the side of the road. The truck with the trailer followed them. After the truck had gone through, Luke shut the gate again, and climbed back into the Jeep. As soon as he was in the car, they set out again.

They drove and began to enter what looked like a valley area.

"This is what we call the outer rim. It's secure, for the most part. But Changed still wander into this area from time to time." Logan told her. "The gate is unmanned, and we don't have many survivors out here. They live out here to farm. They have protection, and can return to the center hub of the colony whenever they want to. The people that live out here are mostly those that were farmers before the apocalypse, or just people that prefer to live away from others."

"If walkers come out here how are they safe?" Annabelle questioned.

"Don't think of these people as terrified farmers." Logan told her. "The farms are fortified, and all of the people out here are trained to fight. We need the farms in this area to feed the colony. Unfortunately, it's hard to properly secure large open areas without building miles of fences. We build fences immediately around the farms and take precautions to make sure that the people that live there are safe. They can contact us at any time by using long-range radios."

"So there's an inner portion of the colony as well?"

"That's where everybody else lives." Logan replied.

He got back on the walkie and started talking again. "This is Logan, requesting admittance into Haven."

"We hear you Logan. Admittance granted. Welcome back."

They came upon the first set of guard towers. They were built from wood, and Annabelle could see the shapes of people inside of them. Then they began to descend out of the mountains and into a valley. They passed another set of towers, and then they came upon the main gate.

It was impressive. The gates were metal, and huge. It looked like they had used to be part of a hangar or something like that. There were guard towers on either side, and barbed wire across the top of it and along the fence that ran beside it. The gate rolled open at their approach, and they drove straight into the gates.

On the other side, there was a sign. It was wooden, and looked like the signs she used to see before the apocalypse, that welcomed people into their town. It only said simply, 'Welcome to Haven'.

* * *

A/N: Thanks for reading! I'll update with the next chapter soon!


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

A/N: Thank you to everyone who read my last chapter! I've got some reviewers to thank!

A big shoutout to,

' .rose','theShield'sGirl','Smittendebs','Rea Josette', and 'mrskaz453'. Thank you guys so much for your reviews!

I would also like to thank my reviewers that always appear in my shoutout list, for keeping up with me and reviewing every chapter that comes out! I love it! You all know who you are, and thank you!

Wow, this chapter was a monster to write! But I'm having an update a day after the last one? That has got to be a personal record for me! Ok, so there's been plenty of reviews to have Annabelle and Daryl reunited, but there's still plenty of time before that happens. So, In order to speed up when I plan on having them reunited, I'm going to start cutting out a lot of Daryl's sections in the story. Most of them are parts we have already seen in the show, so I'm just going to go ahead and trust that everybody reading this has seen all of the aired shows of the walking dead! There will still be plenty of Daryl, don't worry. But he's going to be put on the back burner so that I can progress the storyline more. So here's the next chapter! It's something like 9,700 words long, so it's the most lengthy chapter I've posted so far, but I know everyone wants to see Daryl and Annabelle reunited so I'm going to keep posting chapters quickly and with a high word count to keep things moving right along.

With that said, here's another chapter completely devoted to Annabelle!

* * *

PRESENT DAY

Annabelle

Annabelle rolled past the welcome sign in the jeep, and just ahead of them, there was a town. There was no other way to describe it. That was clearly what it had been before the apocalypse, and now it seemed to have been restored.

They drove into the city, and Annabelle couldn't believe her eyes. There were people. Everywhere. Children waved at the jeep as it passed, and elderly couple sat beside each other on a bench, people wandered in and out of buildings.

Annabelle gazed out the window and covered her mouth with her hand in shock. She made a sound of disbelief before she muttered, "I can't believe this."

Logan must've heard her, because he replied. "Believe it. This place is real."

The jeep continued through the main street of the town, but behind them the truck towing Gypsy pulled off down a side road. "Where are they going?" Annabelle asked as soon as she noticed the truck changing direction.

"The stable." Luke chimed from the back seat. "You can see her in a little. You have to go through customs first though."

"Customs?" Annabelle asked.

"Well, our version of customs." Logan answered. "Your name, birthday, any medical conditions, and a physical exam. It's mostly just for the history books. We want to remember everyone who survived this."

They finally pulled up at what used to be a motel. As soon as they got out of the car, a young woman with dark hair and tan skin, followed by an older woman with dark skin and black hair, came out of the hotel lobby.

Annabelle got out of the jeep, and so did Logan and Luke. The women greeted both of the men warmly, and then turned to greet Annabelle.

"Annabelle, this is Veronica and Dr. Pride." Logan said, gesturing to the younger woman and the older woman, respectively. Veronica was a young girl, probably younger than Annabelle was. She was petite, but looked tough, and had short cropped hair. Dr. Pride was an older woman, probably in her late fifties. Her dark hair was beginning to gray, but she had a kind face. Her hair was pulled back into a high, tight bun.

"They'll take care of you." Logan finished. With that, headed back toward the Jeep with Luke, and Annabelle felt slight alarm creep into her body. She didn't know these two women, and she had begun to trust Logan in the short amount of time she had spent with him. "You're leaving me here?" She asked him, her voice filled with surprise.

He stopped walking at the sound of her voice and turned around. "I have some people higher than me that I have to report to." He replied. When her expression didn't change, he continued again. "Don't worry. I'll see you soon." With that, he walked back to the jeep, and Annabelle turned to face the two women.

"We don't bite." Veronica told her with a smile. "I promise."

Annabelle let out an anxious laugh, but then followed the women inside the motel.

The first thing Annabelle noticed was that the motel had power. There were lights lit up throughout the main lobby. And it was cool. Annabelle noticed ceiling fans whirring away on the ceiling.

"To make this process go quickly, I'm going to ask you some general questions while Dr. Pride gives you a once-over. Sound okay?" Veronica asked Annabelle.

Did Annabelle really have an option? Probably not. So she just nodded her head.

They brought her inside what used to be an office and weighed her and measured her height, before they sat her down. Dr. Pride took her temperature and blood pressure while Veronica began asking questions.

"What's your full name?" Veronica asked her. "And if you want to change it, there's no time like the present."

"Annabelle Louise Miller." She replied.

"Alright." Veronica scribbled her response down in a large notebook. "Date of birth?"

"August fifteenth, 1980."

"So you'll be thirty-one in a few months." Veronica responded.

"I suppose I will be." Annabelle replied. She had almost forgotten how old she was going to be.

"Do you have any outstanding medical conditions? Diabetes, asthma, anything like that?" Dr. Pride asked her.

"No." Annabelle responded.

"That's always good." Dr. Pride replied. The doctor then shone a light in her eyes, and asked her to open her mouth. She checked her ears as well, before she spoke again. "Well, Annabelle. Aside from being underweight and filthy, you seem pretty healthy to me." The doctor told her.

"Good to hear." Annabelle replied.

"Let me ask you something unrelated to all of this." Dr. Pride continued. "Did Logan quarantine you while you guys were out there?"

Annabelle looked at her questioningly before she shook her head.

"That man!" Dr. Pride said in a frustrated tone, which caused a burst of laughter from Veronica.

"Is he supposed to?" Annabelle asked Dr. Pride.

"Yes. Absolutely." She responded.

Veronica just laughed again. "You know better than to think he would actually do that."

"Well, one day he's gonna come across someone who's sick with something and get himself infected." Dr. Pride said disapprovingly. "I'm going to have a cross word or two with him."

"And see what good that'll do you." Veronica replied. Dr. Pride just shook her head, but stood and removed the gloves from her hands.

"You're clear on my end, Annabelle." The doctor told her. "Veronica will finish up with you. Welcome to Haven."

The doctor exited the office, and Veronica continued with the questions.

"Do you have any family?" She asked Annabelle. Annabelle felt her heart drop at the mention of family. She had no idea about any of her family.

"My mother and father, and two siblings, a brother and a sister. But I have no idea if any of them are alive or dead." Annabelle replied.

"That's alright." Veronica replied. "I don't think we have any other Miller's in this town, so I can't say that any of your family is here. Unless they had changed their names."

"I don't think they would have." Annabelle replied.

"Well, then I'm sorry I couldn't be of any more use to you. Maybe you'll find them one day." Veronica responded. "I'm looking for a sibling of my own. We got separated in the beginning of all of this. My older brother."

"I'm sorry." Annabelle replied.

"There's nothing to be sorry about. It happened. All I can do is hope one day I'll find him." Veronica replied. She stood and motioned that Annabelle should follow her. Annabelle did, and they walked back into the lobby.

"What weapons do you have on you?" Veronica asked when they were back in the lobby. "Aside from the bow and arrow and shotgun."

Annabelle lifted her bag off of her shoulder and placed it on the desk. She pulled her knife out from its holster on her side, and pulled her handgun out of her bag.

"Alright. Here's how weapons work here. You can keep everything you've brought in with you that's not a firearm. So the bow and knife are yours."

Annabelle opened her mouth to protest, but Veronica raised her hand to her. "Let me finish." She told the Annabelle.

Annabelle crossed her arms haughtily but didn't argue.

"You can have your shotgun and handgun back after we test your knowledge and usage of them on the practice range. I can do that with you later today. If you show experience and knowledge with your firearm, you keep it. If you don't have a clue as to how to use it, it goes to the armory. We can't have people running around armed to the teeth with no idea how their weapons work. You'd be surprised how many people walk in here with guns that they have no idea how to use."

"Well, when can we go to the range?" Annabelle asked her immediately.

"Later today. After you get cleaned up. There are still a few rules we need to go over as well."

"Well, let me hear them." Annabelle replied.

"If you want to leave Haven, to go on a run, leave, whatever, we ask that you tell us before you go. We don't want to spend hours searching for a missing person that isn't actually missing. If you go on a run, we ask that you bring someone else if at all possible. Additionally, when night falls, we use the buddy system around here. Have someone else with you." Veronica paused to let out a sigh, before she continued with the rules. "Keep two weapons in your house at all times. We suggest keeping one in your room, and one in the main living area. We stay vigilant, and that's how we stay safe. We give out rations weekly, but there's also a community eating schedule if you'd rather eat in a group."

Veronica rustled around behind the desk, and returned with a key with a tag on it, and a room number.

"Here. This is your key for now. You'll stay in the motel until we get a house or an apartment ready for you. The water works in this building, so you can take a shower and get yourself cleaned up. There's some mini shampoos and conditioners in your room, some soap as well. Come back here when you're ready and I'll give you the grand tour."

Annabelle took the key from the girl, grabbed her bag, minus her firearms, and left the lobby. She looked at the number on the key, and tracked down her room. She found it quickly enough, and unlocked the door and walked inside.

It was a simple enough room. It had a single queen sized bed, a couch, desk, and dresser. The bathroom was on the far side of the room, and as promised it had everything she needed. Toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoo, conditioner and soap. Even a razor. Annabelle didn't hesitate.

The first thing she did was scrub her teeth, and was only satisfied when her teeth felt like they had just been scrubbed by a dentist. Then she pulled her hair out of her ponytail, brushed it thoroughly, and then turned on the shower.

The water was hot. She could hardly believe it. She squealed in delight as the hot water hit her body, and she wasted no time in scrubbing herself from head to toe. The dirt from her body washed down the drain, and Annabelle persisted in her cleaning until she felt like her skin was raw. She washed her hair and scrubbed at her scalp, and combed the conditioner through her dried out hair with her fingers. She used the razor to shave her legs and underarms for the first time in almost a year. When she finally got out of the shower, she felt like a new person.

She looked toward the fogged mirror in the bathroom, and reached toward it with her fingertips. She hesitated, before she touched the mirror. She had grown used to her reflection. The girl with the dried out hair, filthy skin and dead eyes. She had gotten used to that. But now, she wasn't sure what she would see. She touched her fingertips to the mirror and wiped the condensation away. At first she just wiped away a little bit, and then more and more, until her whole reflection was visible.

She looked alive again. Her skin was clean, her eyes looked brighter. She looked like her old self, from a year ago. It was like meeting an old friend that she hadn't seen in a long time. She smiled slightly as she looked at her reflection, and lifted her hand to touch her face, and watched her new self do the same. She undid the towel from around her head, and her wet hair fell around her face. She looked like how she used to. She could hardly believe it.

To the right of her reflection, where the mirror was still fogged up, she noticed a figure of a person. Had it been there before? She wasn't sure. It almost looked like a person was standing directly behind her shoulder. Annabelle turned her head to look behind her, but she was most certainly alone in the bathroom.

Suddenly, it occurred to her who it must be.

She reached toward the mirror, but hesitated before she touched it. She knew it was her mind playing tricks on her. This had happened to her before. She should walk away, and not feed into her own tricks, but she didn't want to forget.

She wiped the condensation away, slowly at first but then more quickly until the entire space next to her reflection was clear. And then he was there.

Daryl. He was standing next to her reflection. He looked good. He always looked good when she imagined him. He looked healthy, and above all else, happy. She felt the tears well up in her eyes, and she reached toward the glass to touch where his reflection was. But it was in vain. She couldn't feel the warmth of his skin, or run her fingers through his hair. All she felt was cool glass underneath her fingertips.

She pulled her hand away and she felt tears well up in her eyes. She crossed her arms over her chest and sniffled quietly as she looked at his reflection. The Daryl she was imagining moved toward her and gently brushed his fingertips down her reflections arm, before he gently pressed his lips into her hair.

Annabelle shut her eyes and tried to imagine that she could feel him standing next to her, touching her. But there was nothing. When she opened her eyes again, her reflection was alone in the bathroom.

She had to find him. She had to. He was out there somewhere.

This was not the first time this had happened to her. It had happened several times before. It had happened the most in the heart of winter, when Annabelle had been starving for almost the whole season. The first time it had happened she had been searching for food unsuccessfully, and had begun to get weak with hunger and thirst. Daryl had appeared in front of her. She had known he wasn't real, as soon as he was there. But he had led her to food and water.

He hadn't really led her there. It was her own subconscious encouraging Annabelle to keep fighting, and knowledge buried deep within her memory that had led her to food.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock on her door.

Annabelle turned her head at the sound. It was unfamiliar, now. It meant there was a person out there.

She approached the door hesitantly. She was still wrapped only in a towel. She looked through the peep-hole, and saw Veronica standing there with a bag in her hands.

Annabelle opened the door, and Veronica immediately handed the bag over to her.

"Good! I caught you just in time. I got these for you. It's just some clothes, so you'll have something clean to put on until you have time to wash all of your other stuff. I guessed your size so I don't know how well they'll fit. But it's better than nothing. I put some laundry soap in there too, if you want to wash some of your clothes later." She said as she held out the bag.

"Oh. Thanks." Annabelle replied, surprised. She accepted the bag from Veronica, and the girl spoke again.

"Right. I'll let you finish up then." Veronica replied before she gave a small wave and walked away.

Annabelle shut the door behind the girl and carried the bag over to her bed and began to empty its contents.

There was a plastic bag with several hair ties in it, pairs of undergarments, two pairs of jeans, a belt, a couple tops, socks and one long dress.

A dress. That used to be the biggest staple of her wardrobe. But they weren't practical in the apocalypse. Apparently, people here wore them.

Annabelle got dressed in one of the pairs of jeans. They were a little big on her, so she made use of the belt. She then chose a casual dark gray long-sleeved button down shirt, and threw her own jacket on top of that. She threw on her boots quickly, and then made her way back to the bathroom. She brushed her hair and grabbed one of her hair ties, but didn't pull her hair up yet. She wanted it to dry out first, before she pulled it up. She wasn't used to seeing herself with her hair down, and she looked at herself in the reflection for a moment before she headed out of the house.

She almost looked like she did before the apocalypse. But something was missing.

She looked at her neck, and touched the bare skin along her collar bone. She used to wear a necklace. A very specific necklace. She had taken it off when she had escaped the herd at the farm for fear of losing it. Annabelle walked back into the bedroom and to her bag. She reached indie of the bag, and found the hidden zipper on the inside. She unzipped it, and she pulled the necklace out.

It was a silver necklace, with an uncut peridot gemstone dangling from it. Her birthstone. She looked at the necklace for a moment before she fastened the necklace around her neck. When she looked at the mirror again, she looked complete.

The necklace was given to her on her twenty-first birthday by Daryl. She had kept it for almost ten years. And she hoped to keep it for many more. Somehow, with the necklace on again, he felt closer to her than he had been in months.

She looked away from her reflection, and refocused on her task at hand. She strapped her knife to her belt, and then slipped her key into her pocket before she headed back out the door.

She made her way back to the main lobby, where Veronica was waiting. She had her feet up on the concierge desk and was reading a book. She looked up at the sound of Annabelle entering, and smiled brightly when she entered.

"Well don't you look like a brand new person." Veronica told her when she walked in.

"Yeah." Annabelle replied. "It's amazing what a hot shower can do."

"I'll say. I've seen some pretty awesome transformations since I started working customs." She replied. Veronica took her feet off of the desk and set her book down, and stood up. "Well, we might as well get started." She told her. She walked up next to Annabelle and handed her an apple. "I figured you might be a little hungry."

Annabelle took the fruit gratefully and immediately bit into it before she started off behind the girl and out the door.

"We'll go to the stables first. Get your horse and I'll borrow one. It'll be faster that way." Veronica explained. The two girls set off in the direction of the stables, Annabelle trailing closely behind Veronica the whole time.

They got to the stables, and Annabelle was reunited with Gypsy. The horse was set up in a stall, munching away happily at some hay when Annabelle walked in. She whinnied happily at the sight of Annabelle, and Annabelle immediately greeted the horse warmly.

Annabelle met the woman who was in charge of the stables, along with the two teenage girls and one young boy that helped her run it. Annabelle saddled up Gypsy, and Veronica took another horse, and the two of them set off through the town.

Annabelle was shown where she should go to pick up her rations. A place they fondly called the 'general store'. She also met the elderly man that ran the place. She saw the doctor's office where Dr. Pride and two other doctors worked, along with a few nurses. She was shown the school, however it was empty of children since it was a Saturday and the children didn't have to attend school on the weekends. Veronica showed her the church, run solely by a priest and a tough looking man that stayed pretty much silent for the duration that Annabelle was there. There was a library in the center of the town. She was also shown a woodshop, and even blacksmith.

She began to realize how the town was set up. This whole area, it seemed, was a valley between some very large mountain peaks. Around the town was completely mountains, but this large area where to town was consisted of mostly small hills and lakes. The whole town was built next to a large lake. On the outskirts of the town was completely farming and standalone houses. Veronica told Annabelle that further down the roads and into the trees there was a few housing developments, and more standalone houses. She informed her that as the towns population grew, the houses were being utilized. All of the buildings were cleared of walkers, but most just stood empty waiting for occupants.

Annabelle was shown a few more places, until finally they rode up outside of what looked to be some kind of mayor's office or town hall.

"This is where everything big happens." Veronica explained as they rode up. "Our leader's office is here. His name is Michael Harris. You'll meet him now."

The two girls dismounted from their horses and entered the building. There were a few people in there, mostly guards off duty it looked like. Veronica made her way through the building, until she reached a door. She knocked a few times, and then a voice sounded from within telling them to enter the room.

Inside the room, there were three men. One was sitting behind a desk, the other two were in front of it. One of the men sitting in front of the desk Annabelle recognized immediately as Logan. The man sitting next to him, Annabelle had never seen before. He had dark hair and light eyes, with a slight natural tan to his skin. He turned to look at Annabelle as she walked in, and the first thing that Annabelle noticed about him besides his unusually bright blue eyes, was how serious he looked. He was young. Younger than any of the other men in the room. If she had to guess, he was probably in his late twenties. Annabelle then turned her eyes to the man behind the desk. He had dark skin and dark hair, cut short. His face however, was more kind than his serious counterpart sitting in front of him. He immediately welcomed the two girls into his office with a pleasant smile. He was older than Annabelle, for sure. Probably in his mind forties. She assumed this was their leader, Michael Harris.

"You must be Annabelle." He said immediately as soon as they walked in the door. He stood from behind the desk and walked around to greet her. He extended his arm to shake hands with her. "I'm Michael Harris. It's nice to meet you. Welcome to Haven." His voice was warm and welcoming, and Annabelle shook his hand. "Thanks. It's nice to be here." She replied.

"Well, it's certainly better than being out there, that's for sure." He replied in response to her statement. He released her hand, and turned his head to look at the men behind him. "It's my understanding you've already met my second in command, Logan?" He commented.

"Yes." Annabelle replied. As she did, Logan stood and walked over to her. "It's nice to see you again." He commented to her. She nodded in response to him. "Same." She said simply.

The last man in the room stood back quietly. He waited until Michael gestured him forward before he came forward.

"And this is Sean Calder." Michael stated, gesturing toward the last man in the room. "He's the brains of this whole operation."

The man called Sean glanced toward the ground for a moment at the praise, before he walked forward and extended his arm toward Annabelle. "He speaks a little too highly of me." He commented modestly as he shook her hand. As soon as he released her hand he backed away again.

"He's being very modest." Michael commented. "Without him, this place wouldn't run even half as smoothly as it does." He paused for a moment before continuing. "So, you're on the grand tour?" He asked her.

"Yes. I think this was our last stop though." Annabelle replied. She glanced over her shoulder to Veronica who nodded.

"I was going to take her to the practice range after this." Veronica stated.

"I can handle that, if you want to get back to customs." Logan stated as Veronica finished speaking.

Annabelle looked at Logan, surprised, but he wasn't looking at her. He was looking at Veronica.

"Are you sure?" The other girl asked him. "You're not too busy?"

"No, we were just finishing up here." Logan replied. He and the other man, Sean, exchanged a tense glance before Logan turned to look at Michael.

"Go ahead." Michael stated to Logan. "I know you can't stand being cooped up in here for very long." Michael then turned his attention away Logan and turned to face Annabelle again. "It was nice to meet you, Annabelle. I'm sure I'll see you again soon."

"Same." Annabelle replied to Michael. She glanced at Sean, but he immediately averted his eyes from her and sat back down in his chair.

With that, Veronica, Logan, and Annabelle exited the office. They walked out of the building, and Veronica bid a farewell to Annabelle. She walked back in the direction of the motel, which was within sight of the town hall.

"Ready to go?" Logan asked Annabelle.

Annabelle nodded immediately. "More than ready."

The two of them got onto the horses and began to ride out of the town. Logan informed her that the practice range was a ways away, and it would take some time to get there. Annabelle used the opportunity to start asking more questions about this place.

"So, did you know Sean and Michael before the apocalypse?" Annabelle asked Logan.

He nodded his head yes, and Annabelle immediately was surprised. "Really?" She asked him.

"Sean is the reason I was in Atlanta." Logan responded. "You were right, I'm not from Georgia, and I certainly wasn't on vacation when all of this happened. I was sent to Georgia when the outbreak began as protection detail for Sean."

"Protection detail?" Annabelle asked him. "Why did he need protection from a secret service agent for? Who is he?"

"He's a genius." Logan answered.

Annabelle felt surprised again. "A genius? What do you mean?"

"That he's a genius." Logan responded. "Graduated from MIT when he was sixteen. Ridiculously high IQ. He'd been working for the government as a programmer and hacker for a few years. They wanted me to get him out of Atlanta safely."

"Wow." Annabelle responded.

"He designed our entire power grid for the town. All the windmills you see everywhere, the solar panels. He designed the windmills, and he wired everything onto a power grid. He got us functioning security cameras at the main gate and onto the main road. He designed our lighting system that lights the road inside of the town. He got the water back on."

"That's pretty impressive." Annabelle replied.

"He's impressive. Smartest man I've ever known. But he's horrible with people. Very awkward." Logan replied.

"And Michael? You knew him before all of this as well?" Annabelle asked.

"We were in the Seals together." Logan replied to her. "We took different paths. He stayed on in the Seals and I moved into the secret service. Eventually he left the military. I knew he was living in Atlanta, so I called him as soon as I knew I was going there, before everything got crazy. I knew that he was the only one I wanted by my side. He came when I called him, and we've stayed together since then. He's more of a leader than I am. I'm the soldier, and he's the one that inspires people."

"Quite a trio." Annabelle replied to him.

"It's more than just us. We make new progress with every person that joins us." Logan replied.

Annabelle looked over at Logan. She couldn't help but to admire him. He had been through hell, just like she had been. He had survived, and built, and now was responsible for the safety of an entire town of people. It couldn't be something that was easy to do.

Logan turned his head. He must've felt her gaze on him. "What?" He asked her with a slight smirk.

"Nothing." She replied immediately before turning her head back toward the road they were on. "I was just thinking that running this place is a big responsibility." She added after he looked at her skeptically.

Logan surveyed her for a moment before he answered her. "I suppose." He replied.

They continued on in silence for a while longer before they reached the practice range. They tied the horses, and walked over toward the targets.

Logan handed her a pistol first. "Can you take it apart?" He asked her.

She nodded, and took the pistol apart. She set it out on a table sitting underneath the covered area they were standing under.

"Good. Put it back together." Logan replied.

She did as she was told, and looked up at Logan when she was finished.

"What next, Mr. Weiss?" She asked him with a sarcastic undertone in her voice.

Logan smirked at her formal use of his name. "That target right there, Ms. Miller." He replied, pointing to one of the closer targets.

Annabelle raised the pistol toward the target, and checked to make sure the safety was off. She focused for a moment before she pulled the trigger. There was a loud bang, and she lowered her weapon to look at the target. She couldn't see where she had hit from where she was standing. Logan lifted a pair of binoculars, and looked toward the target.

"A bullseye." He declared as he lowered the binoculars.

"Need me to shoot it again?" She asked Logan.

He raised an eyebrow at her as he looked over to her. "Sure. Take a few more shots." He responded.

She rolled her eyes before she repeated the same exercise. She took a few more shots, all of them exceptionally accurate. Logan then handed her a hunting rifle, and she performed similarly. Then he handed her a shotgun.

"Ever shot at clay targets before?" Logan asked her.

She nodded her head. Memories of long hours in an open field with Daryl flooded her mind. "When I was younger." She replied.

"Care to take a few shots?" He asked her.

She nodded, and he walked over to the target launcher. She took the shotgun up, and Logan released the first target. It shattered into pieces as she shot it. He released four more, and they all exploded similarly.

"Impressive." Logan said as he walked toward her. "Really impressive, actually. Can I ask where you learned to do that?"

Annabelle hesitated before she responded. "When I was younger… My best friend. He taught me to shoot and to hunt." Annabelle responded. She averted her eyes away from Logan as she spoke and put down the gun quickly on the table. She hadn't spoken a word about Daryl in months, only thought of him in her head. Speaking about him, even if she didn't say his name, was difficult. "Are we done here?" She asked Logan, more roughly than she intended to.

Logan must've observed her noticeable change in behavior. "Are you alright?" He asked her.

"I'm fine." Annabelle replied quickly. She walked away from Logan and turned her back to face him.

"Is he one of the one's you're looking for?" Logan asked her.

Annabelle crossed her arms over her chest and looked out toward the open field of the shooting range. "Yes." She finally answered. "He and my sister. I was separated from them before winter started."

She heard Logan taking steps in her direction, but she didn't turn her head. "So you think they're still alive?" He asked her.

She turned around to look at Logan. He was now standing on an arms-length away from her. "Yes. I do." She responded. "I think they're out there somewhere, looking for me too."

"How do you know?"

"Because." Annabelle replied. "I have to believe they're alive and okay." She let out a sigh before she spoke again. "And If he's alive," She hesitated for a moment before she spoke again, preparing herself to say the name she hadn't spoken aloud to any other person in months. "If Daryl is alive, I know he's fighting every day out there to find me. If Ruby is alive, my sister, then she is too."

"Your sister and you are close?" Logan asked her.

"Very. She's my best friend. We were living together before the apocalypse."

"And this man. Daryl. What is he to you?" He asked.

Annabelle hesitated, trying to think of the words to describe what Daryl was to her. She smiled softly as the perfect words came to her mind. "He's everything to me." She finally answered softly.

Logan evaluated her face for a moment before he spoke to her again. "We can help you find them." He told her. "If they're out there, one day we will find them. I promise."

Annabelle felt her heart soar at his words. With the help of others, people to watch her back, she could find them. She knew she could.

"Do you mean that?" She asked him.

Logan nodded to her. "Yes. We've found others. We can find your people too."

* * *

Annabelle and Logan finished up on the shooting range after that, and he took Annabelle back to the motel. There, she was granted her pistol and shotgun back, which she accepted gratefully.

In the hotel lobby, as she was looking over her guns, Logan spoke to he again.

"If you're serious about finding these people, you can start going on runs with us." Logan told her as she examined her guns. She looked up at him as he spoke, evaluating him, but didn't say anything yet.

"You're a good shot, and we can always use more of those when we're out." Logan told her. "And while we're out, you can look for evidence that they're alive. I can't send you to south Georgia until I'm sure that we could find them alive. I can't risk a team of my men chasing something that may not even exist."

Annabelle nodded. "I understand." She said simply. She couldn't blame him for not wanting to charge off into the unknown.

"If we find something that leads us to believe that they're alive, I promise I'll help you find them." Logan told her.

With that, he nodded to her, and turned to walk out of the motel lobby. Just as he was about to leave, Annabelle called out to him. "Logan!"

He turned his head at the sound of her voice and looked at her questioningly.

"Thank you." Annabelle finally said. "For everything."

Logan nodded to her. "Don't mention it." He said simply before he turned around and exited the motel.

* * *

August, 2003

Annabelle's 21st birthday

ANNABELLE

Annabelle heard gravel crunching as a truck pulled into her driveway. The headlights shone in through the windows of the great room, and Annabelle pressed her dress down anxiously. It felt silly to her that after all this time, she still got nervous before she went on a date with Jackson.

"Is that Jackson?"

Annabelle heard her mother, Mary Miller, call from the back of the house.

"I think so." Annabelle called back.

She heard the clicking of her mother's heels as she walked through the house and into the great room. In the drive, the truck's headlights shut off.

"Have fun tonight, sweetheart." Her mother told her cheerily as she fussed over her daughter's hair. Her mother was a blonde, just like Annabelle. She was dressed to the T to go nowhere, as usual. But that's just how her mother was. She was bright and cheerful most all the time. But Annabelle never forgot how feisty her mother could be. She was a true southern lady. "Do you know where you're going?" She asked.

"Some fancy steakhouse I think." Annabelle replied.

"I'm sure they'll have a great time."

Annabelle looked up at the top of the grand staircase to see her father standing there. He was very tall, and a very serious looking man. His hair had begun to gray with age, and he made no effort to stop it. He was dressed in slacks and a button down, looking professional even though Annabelle knew he was relaxing today. He descended the stairs, and reached the bottom just in time to open the door for Jackson.

Annabelle turned her head and smiled at her boyfriend as he entered into the house. He was looking exceptionally handsome, as usual. He was dressed up tonight, in a tie and suit. Annabelle was glad she had dressed up as well. He wouldn't tell her where he was taking her, only gave her vague hints on how to dress. Annabelle had taken it upon herself to wear a little black dress with some matching heels and pearl accessories. Her boyfriend was carrying flowers, and she smiled brightly when she saw them.

"Good evening, Mr. Miller." He said immediately to her father.

"It's nice to see you again, Son." Her father responded warmly.

"And you're looking lovely as always, Mrs. Miller." He greeted her mother.

Her mother smiled back at him fondly before she spoke. "Why thank you, Jackson. You be safe with my little girl tonight. No funny business." She told him sternly.

"Of course not, ma'am." He replied.

"That's what I like to hear." Annabelle's mother responded. With that, her mother strode out of the great room and back into the kitchen.

Jackson walked towards Annabelle and handed her the flowers. "These are for you." He told her as he planted a kiss on her cheek.

"Thanks, Jack." She responded as she accepted the flowers.

Jackson and her father spoke a little longer, before he finally took Annabelle out of the house and out to his truck.

Jackson opened the door for her and Annabelle climbed into the truck. Soon, Jackson joined her, and before he started the car he leaned over to Annabelle and gave her an actual kiss.

"Happy birthday." He told her as he pulled away from her.

"Thanks." She replied with a smile.

They drove a while to the restaurant, and it was well worth it. It was designed to look like some kind of mountain lodge, and was very classy. Dinner was going well between them, and Jackson gave Annabelle her birthday present. A very expensive looking watch. There night was relatively uneventful until Jackson suddenly changed subjects on her.

"So, you and Daryl still friends?" He suddenly asked her.

Annabelle felt her heart rate quicken at the mention of Daryl's name. She looked over at Jackson and paused for a moment before answering. "Yes, we are. Why do you ask?" She responded.

"It's just weird is all." He responded.

"How so?" Annabelle countered right back.

Jackson met her gaze evenly before he spoke again. "It just is. A girl like you shouldn't be hanging out with him."

"A girl like me? What do you mean?" She asked him.

"You know what I mean." He replied. "Look where we are right now." He said as he gestured to the steakhouse. "Look at you, what you're wearing. How you act. A girl like you has no business being friends with someone like Daryl Dixon."

"I thought you and Daryl were okay with each other." Annabelle replied. "After that night."

"I'm fine with him. Daryl and I don't have any sort of issue yet." Jackson responded.

"Yet?" Annabelle asked him.

"Yes. Yet." Jackson replied. "I've seen him when we're all out, when we run into him at the bar. I've seen the way he looks at you."

"Are you implying something is going on between Daryl and I?" Annabelle demanded, somewhat offended. She and Daryl were best friends. And Annabelle wasn't a cheater.

"No. I'm not saying that at all." Jackson replied. "What I'm saying is that he wants something to be going on between you and him."

"Don't be ridiculous." Annabelle immediately responded.

"I'm not being ridiculous." He answered back. "Everyone can see it. You're the only one who thinks that he doesn't have feelings for you."

"He doesn-" She began, but Jackson cut her off.

"Annabelle!" He snapped at her quietly, silencing her. She immediately ceased talking and looked at her boyfriend.

"I'm telling you." He told her. "He has feelings for it. Everyone can see it."

"So he has feelings for me." Annabelle finally responded after several moments of tense silence between her and her boyfriend. "What would you have me do?"

"End it." He said simply.

"What?" Annabelle asked him.

"End your friendship. No more of this, Annabelle. We're not kids anymore."

"Kids?" She asked him incredulously.

"Before, this was okay. I could understand it. We all go to school together, he saved you the night of the bonfire. I get it. I get why you could be friends. But now? Annabelle, you're going places. And he's not going to those places."

"What are you saying to me?" Annabelle demanded.

"I'm saying, you need to start worrying about the kind of reputation you're going to get if you keep on being around him." Jackson finally stated. "We're not kids anymore. It's no longer acceptable for you to behave this way."

"And how am I behaving?" Annabelle asked Jackson, offended.

"Ignorantly." He responded harshly. "To what his true intentions are, and to what your future is supposed to be. You are too different."

Annabelle didn't want to hear what Jackson was saying. But she knew he was right. Her and Daryl received odd looks every time she was hanging out with him. They were from two completely different worlds. And she knew Daryl had feelings for her. She had picked up on it quite some time ago, but she had never made any effort to put distance between herself and Daryl. She cared for him. A lot. He was her one true friend.

A waiter came over to them, and gave them two glasses with champagne in them. Jackson looked at Annabelle for a moment before he sighed ad picked up the glass.

"Enough about that." He replied. "There's no need for things to get sour." He said to her.

Annabelle was grateful that he didn't want to press further into the subject. She had begun to get a bad feeling in her stomach at the thought of losing Daryl from her life, no matter how right Jackson may be.

Annabelle picked up her champagne flute, mimicking Jackson.

"To you, my love." He said to her as he clinked his glass against hers. "Happy Birthday."

Annabelle smiled at Jackson, and took a sip of the champagne. As she titled the glass, she heard a tinkling sound from within the glass, and she pulled it away from her lips and looked at the glass curiously.

She hadn't noticed it before, and she had no idea how she had missed it. But there at the bottom of her glass was a ring.

She felt her heart stop beating for a moment. She grabbed one of the forks from the table and reached into the glass and pulled out the ring.

It was beautiful. It glittered brightly in her palm, and she stared at it for a moment. It was most definitely an engagement ring.

She felt her eyes welling up with tears, and she turned to look at Jackson. He was on the floor in front of her, on one knee. She couldn't believe what was happening. She was totally shocked, to say the least.

"Jackson-" She began, unsure of what she was going to say. She had known this would happen. She had been expecting it for some time. But now that it had actually happened, she was speechless. She thought that she would be jumping for joy, but she stared at the ring and stayed quiet.

"Annabelle." Jackson replied, speaking softly to her. He took both of her hands in his and met her eyes. Jackson had brilliant green eyes that went along wonderfully with his dark hair and strong jawline. He was undoubtedly exceptionally handsome. But she could hardly focus on his features now. Her heart was pounding out of her chest.

"I love you." He said to her. "We've been together for a long time, and you're the one that I want by my side until I'm old and gray." He said to her softly. "Marry me."

Annabelle was still shocked. She stared at him for a moment longer, and then realized that everyone in the restaurant was looking at them. She met eyes with Jackson and she knew what her answer was going to be. After all, they had been together for so long. They were always going to end up together… Right?

"Yes." Annabelle finally replied after several moments of silence.

Jackson immediately burst into a huge smile, and Annabelle opened up her palm to reveal the sparkling engagement ring. Jackson took it from her palm and slipped it onto the ring finger of her left hand, before he righted himself and kissed her. Around her, she heard people clapping loudly for them.

Annabelle had never thought that agreeing to marry Jackson would be so hard.

* * *

Later that night, Jackson drove Annabelle back home. It was late, and all of the lights were out in the house.

"Are you going to wake your mom and tell her?" Jackson asked as he pulled into the drive.

"No." Annabelle replied. "I'll surprise her in the morning over breakfast. Get the full reaction from her."

Jackson smiled and nodded. "She's gonna freak out."

"Oh, definitely." Annabelle replied with a laugh.

Jackson opened the door for Annabelle so that she could get out of the truck and walked her to her door. He kissed her goodbye, and left for the evening.

Annabelle got into her house and slipped off her heels. She almost went up the stairs, but hesitated.

Daryl had said the day before that he wanted to see her tonight. Annabelle had been busy all day with plans with her friends and family, but had told him she could see him after she got home from her date with Jackson.

She could go to bed, and tell him she had been tired and wanted to sleep. He wouldn't be mad at her. Daryl was never mad at her. Her conversation with Jackson played over and over again in her head, and her ring felt like a dead weight on her finger.

Things were different now that she was engaged, and she knew it. She should go to bed right now, and not meet Daryl on her back porch as she had originally planned. She took several steps towards the stairs, and placed her foot on the bottom step before she stopped herself.

She knew he would wait for a while before he gave up and left. And she would feel awful if she left him outside.

Annabelle changed her path and headed toward the back of the house and toward the back door. Everyone was asleep by now, and no one would hear her roaming about.

Just before she got to the back door, Annabelle hesitated. She hastily pulled her ring off of her finger and placed it on the kitchen counter. She would tell Daryl about the engagement. Just not right now. She had the oddest feeling that he wouldn't take it well, and she wasn't ready for him to know just yet.

Annabelle opened the back door quietly before she stepped out onto the porch. She shut the door behind her and looked around on the back deck.

She didn't see anything, but she knew that that didn't mean he wasn't out here. And sure enough, he seemingly emerged from the shadows around her house.

"You look nice." He commented as he walked up to her.

"Thanks." She replied hastily.

"Nice watch." He commented, gesturing to the piece of jewelry on her arm.

"Jackson gave it to me." She replied.

Daryl nodded before he looked at Annabelle with an almost skeptical expression. "You alright?" He asked her.

"Yeah. No. I mean yes. I'm alright." She replied quickly.

"You seem flustered." He told her.

"No, I'm quite alright." She responded. Annabelle took a breath in to steady herself before she started talking again. "You said you needed to see me?" She asked him.

Daryl nodded, and reached into his pocket. "Hold out your hand." He told her.

Annabelle did as he said, and he deposited a necklace into her palm.

Annabelle held it closer to her face and inspected the necklace. It was a raw piece of peridot, uncut. There was a silver wire wrapped carefully around the top of the jewel that secured it onto the silver chain it was attached to.

"It's a –" Daryl began.

"Peridot." Annabelle finished for him. "It's my birthstone."

Daryl nodded to her, and Annabelle continued to look at the jewelry. "This is beautiful, Daryl." She said to him after a moment. The peridot still shone delightfully, and there was something about the uncut gem that made Annabelle think distinctly of Daryl. A little rough on the outside, but still beautiful. She took a closer look at the wire wrapped around the gem, and then realized something about the jewelry.

"Did you make this?" She asked him.

"Sort of." Daryl replied. "I got the chain and the gem, but I made the bit that attaches them together."

Annabelle felt emotion well up within her, and she offered the necklace out to Daryl. "Put it on for me?" She asked him.

He accepted the necklace from her, and Annabelle turned around and lifted her hair up. She felt his fingers brush against the back of her neck as he fastened the clasp and shivers rushed through her body.

Daryl had touched her plenty of times before, but never in such a sensitive place on her body. Her reaction to his touch surprised her, and she felt her heart pounding slightly.

She turned around, and the space between her and Daryl was much closer than it had been. She was practically touching him.

It was odd to her. Her reaction to his close proximity. They had been near each other before, but not like this. The air between them was electric.

She looked up into his face, and they were only inches apart from each other. She met his eyes for a moment before she reached her hand up and placed it on the side of his neck. He leaned down toward her and placed his forehead against hers, and Annabelle felt his fingers trace down her arm.

She had never interacted with him like this before. Never. And she didn't know how to describe the feelings coursing through her body. Her breath was quickened, and everywhere he touched her it felt like she was on fire. Her heart pounded in her chest, and she felt like surely he could hear it too.

She felt his hands find their way to her hips, and he gently pulled her against him. She placed one hand on his chest, and felt her breath catch in her chest. Daryl pushed her hair behind her ear with one of his hands, and then entwined his fingers in her hair.

Annabelle knew what was going to happen before it did, and she made no effort to stop it.

Daryl leaned down toward her and kissed her. It was very soft, and questioning. It was a kiss that demanded an answer. And Annabelle gave him one.

She stood on her tip toes and kissed him back. Daryl didn't hesitate, and the next thing Annabelle knew she was kissing Daryl. Really kissing him. One of her hands stayed on his neck, and she felt his heart racing through the pulse point there. Her other hand stayed on his chest at first, but then roamed down to his stomach as she allowed herself to touch him. The muscles beneath her hand were firm, and they felt just about as good as she always thought that they would.

Daryl pulled her even closer to him, and in her kiss with him she felt what everyone else had been seeing for months. Daryl loved her. She knew that now. And she didn't mean the crushes people get on one another. He was completely in love with her. Probably even more in love than Jackson was.

Jackson had never kissed her like that. They had been passionate before but never like this. Annabelle felt like her whole body as on fire. Every ounce of her craved more of Daryl.

She knocked the jacket he was wearing off of him and it fell softly against the wood deck. He pushed her back against the wall of the house and deepened their kiss. She ran her hands down Daryl's arms, feeling the muscles there. She felt his fingertips brush against her thigh, and he pushed her dress up to her hip. She felt his fingertips brush against her bare hip, and she felt her body's immediate aching reaction to his touch there.

She gasped as his fingers brushed over her hip, which caused their kiss to break. He smiled just slightly at her reaction to him, and kissed her lightly on her lips again before he pushed her hair off of her neck and gently trailed kisses along the delicate skin there.

She felt desire rise up in her again as his kisses trailed down to her shoulder. She caught her breath as he kissed along her collarbone, and as she did her mind seemed to wake up.

Was she insane? She had just accepted an engagement ring from Jackson, and it was just on the other side of the wall that she was being pressed up against by another man. The worst part about this whole situation, was that she wanted this. She wanted it badly. She wanted Daryl badly. Very badly.

She had been with Jackson for almost five years. She was supposed to marry him. That's what was meant to happen. Since her sophomore year of highschool she had known that was her future.

Annabelle pushed against Daryl's chest with her hand, causing him to take a step back. Immediately, Annabelle righted her dress.

"I'm so sorry." She muttered quickly as she looked at Daryl. "This shouldn't have happened." She said quickly.

She saw hurt flash across his face, and he opened his mouth like he was going to speak to her, but Annabelle turned toward her back door and yanked the door open. She shut it behind her quickly and snatched her ring off of the counter and ran up to her bedroom.

As soon as she was in the safety of her room, she let out a breath she didn't know that she had been holding. Her hands were shaking, and her fingers fumbled with the ring in her hand. She finally decided to place it on her dresser. Immediately after, she fumbled with the chain around her neck, and finally managed to get the necklace off too. She placed it on the dresser next to the ring, and stared at the two pieces of jewelry in front of her.

Her vision began to cloud, and she felt tears welling up in her eyes. What on earth had she gotten herself in to?

She took off her dress and changed into her pajamas, and shut off her light and crawled into bed. Tears streamed down her face, and she wiped them away hastily.

She was in trouble. Big trouble.

She had put herself in this situation. She had known this was happening with Daryl. A blind person could have seen the feelings developing between them. Annabelle had never thought it would get that far though. And Jackson. Jackson had been her boyfriend for years. He had just asked her to marry him tonight. And she had made out with another man not two hours later, and let him push up her dress. And she had liked it. A lot more than she wanted to admit. It had taken some serious self control to stop kissing Daryl. She had never wanted to jump on top of anyone in her life. But not even five minutes ago she had been praying for Daryl to take that whole situation a lot farther.

What the hell had she gotten herself into? No matter what she did at this point, people were going to get hurt. And it wasn't going to be pretty.

* * *

A/N: Please leave me a review! Thanks for reading!


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

A/N: Here's chapter 8 everyone! Enjoy!

This chapter will take us out of season three, and then chapter nine will jump right into season four.

I want to thank my reviewers,

DarylDixon'sLover, The-Last-Timelord-95, LizzieLinn, mrskaz453, Rea Josette, Smittendebs, and lorrainenicole. You guys rock!

I also want to thank all of my readers, thank you for reading my story!

* * *

August 2003

ANNABELLE

Annabelle woke up from her fitful sleep to see light streaming into her window. She rubbed her eyes and yawned, and then the events of the previous night rushed into her head.

She had gotten engaged to Jackson. And had made out with Daryl. All in the same night.

Annabelle let out a distressed sigh. What on earth had she done? This situation was awful. She knew it was. No matter what happened, people were going to get hurt.

She stood and walked over to her dresser where the ring and necklace were sitting side by side. She looked at both pieces of jewelry and felt herself torn between them.

Until last night, Annabelle had been sure of the path she was meant to take. Jackson was her future. They were meant to be together. They were perfect for each other. She would be very happy with him.

But Daryl… Daryl was her best friend. There was no question about that. She had always thought of him as just her best friend, but last night had clearly shown her that she had more feelings for Daryl than she had been allowing herself to feel.

Annabelle got dressed and as she did she thought more on the subject. Maybe there was a way that she could fix this. She had slipped up last night with Daryl. Put them in a position that they shouldn't have been in. And Annabelle had had quite a bit to drink last night. Maybe that could explain how she had acted. Her brain hadn't been thinking right.

After she got dressed, she walked back over to her dresser, and picked up her engagement ring. She slipped it onto her finger, and put Daryl's necklace away in one of her jewelry boxes. She would fix this.

She made her way downstairs to where her mother and father were already enjoying their breakfast. Her mother was finishing up some eggs, and her father was sipping on his coffee and reading the newspaper.

"Hey." Annabelle said to them as she walked in.

"Good morning, dear." Her father said as she walked in to the kitchen.

"How was your date?" Her mother asked her.

"It was good." Annabelle replied. "He gave me this." She said, showing her watch to them.

"How lovely." Her mother replied as she looked at it.

"And… This." Annabelle said, pulling her left hand out from behind her back.

Her mother's eyes immediately snapped to Annabelle's finger, and her mother cried out as she saw it. "Oh goodness!" She immediately stood and rushed over to her daughter and grabbed her hand to inspect the ring.

"What's going on?" Annabelle's father asked. He was looking rather confused, he had clearly been too absorbed in his paper to see the ring when she had first held her hand up.

"Jerry! Our daughter is getting married!" Her mother yelled to him.

Immediately her father stood up and walked over to Annabelle and gave her a big hug. "Congratulations, Sweetheart." He said warmly to her. "Jackson is a good man."

"Thanks." Annabelle replied. Her heart warmed seeing her parent's reaction, and she felt a little bit better about everything that had happened the night before, and about the decision she had made. She could fix her friendship with Daryl, and pursue her marriage with Jackson. Everything would work out for the better.

The rest of her day was spent with her friends coming and going from her house, excitedly gossiping over the ring, wedding plans, the bachelorette party, and bridal showers. Her mother made phone calls to every relative that Annabelle had to tell them the good news. But the whole day, Annabelle never once got a call from Daryl.

She had assumed he would call her to talk to her about the night before. But she didn't hear a word from him. Not that day. Or the next day. Or even the day after that.

Three days after her engagement, Annabelle was on her way into town to meet with one of her friends for lunch, when she drove past the mechanic's place she knew Daryl worked. He had quit working at the factory a few months prior. She scanned the parking lot as she passed, and sure enough she saw his truck parked in the lot.

She quickly turned into the lot, much to the dismay of the driver who honked at her angrily as she cut them off.

She parked in the lot, and walked toward the open garage.

She saw Daryl immediately. He had his back to her, and was digging through a toolbox. She walked up behind him, and he turned his head at the sound of her approaching. "Hey." She called to him softly.

He looked up, saw it was her, and then shook his head and walked away from her.

Annabelle was immediately taken back. Daryl had never reacted to her that way before.

"Can we talk?" She called after him as he walked away.

"Ain't got nothing to talk about." He called back as he walked away.

She sighed, frustrated, but walked after him nonetheless. "Daryl Dixon!" She yelled at him, which caused him to stop walking. "You come talk to me!" She demanded of him.

He hesitated for a moment before he turned around sharply and marched right up to her. He stood right in front of her, and glared down at her.

"What do you wanna talk about?" He hissed at her. "This?" He snarled as he grabbed her left hand, showing her the ring there.

Annabelle snatched her hand away from him, and Daryl scoffed and walked away from her again. He walked around the side of the garage, and she followed after him.

She found him leaning against the side of the garage lighting a cigarette.

"Who told you?" She asked him.

"Everyone in this whole goddamn town. Except for you." He replied harshly.

Annabelle felt a sigh escape her body. She should have told him herself. She knew that. "I'm sorry." She replied softly. "I should have told you."

"Yeah." He scoffed. "There's a lot of things you should've told me."

Annabelle crossed her arms over her chest, and stayed silent. There was nothing she could say. He was completely right.

He threw the cigarette he was smoking away from him and then rounded on her. He walked right up to her and looked down at her. They were almost as close as they had been the other night, and Annabelle felt herself growing anxious at his close proximity to her. "I'm sorry." She whispered again.

Daryl sighed heavily. She could tell he was still angry, but she knew he couldn't ever stay angry at her.

"Why didn't you tell me?" He asked her. "You didn't say anything to me. Don't you think that I should have known? I wouldn't have- " He stopped himself from talking, and Annabelle knew exactly what he was talking about. He was referencing the other night. "I wouldn't have acted that way." He finally said to her.

"I wanted to tell you." Annabelle began. "But I just- I don't know. I couldn't tell you. I wasn't ready to tell you."

"So what now?" He asked her, his voice exasperated. She could tell he knew what she was going to say, but he didn't want to admit it.

"So that's it." She answered him. "I'm getting married, Daryl."

"That's what you're gonna say?" He replied. "After everything that happened?"

"Yes." She answered him. But her voice sounded weak to her.

"Look at you." He replied to her. "You don't even believe yourself."

"I do, Daryl."

"No, you don't." He stated.

"Dary-"

"No!" He snapped at her. She silenced herself after hearing the aggression in his voice and the frustrated look on his face. He sighed heavily, and his expression softened. "You listen to me. You felt something the other night. I know you did."

Annabelle met his eyes, and prepared herself to tell a lie to him. It occurred to her that before this, she had never lied to him. "No. I didn't, Daryl. I'm sorry that happened, I can't take it back, but I had been drinking. I made a mistake."

"A mistake?" He replied. She could hear the hurt in his voice, and Annabelle began to fight back tears in her eyes.

"I'm sorry, Daryl." Was all she said.

He shook his head and walked away from her, down the side of the building. He paced away from her for a few moments before he spoke again.

"So now what?" He called to her. "That's it? We just stop being friends, stop everything?" He asked her.

"We can still be friends." She responded. "It just.. It can't be like how it was. I'm getting married, Daryl. It's going to happen. We're not kids anymore."

Daryl leaned against the side of the garage and looked at the ground in front of him. Annabelle took a step toward him. "Daryl? Can you say something to me?" She asked him.

He was silent for a moment, and when he finally spoke he didn't look at her. "Just go." He said simply. Annabelle's heart broke looking at him. He looked… Defeated. She wanted nothing more than to go and hug him and comfort him, tell him that everything was going to be okay. But it wasn't. She was supposed to marry Jackson. That's just how it was.

She nodded to him, and turned around and walked back to her car. She got into the car, started the engine, and drove away. She drove for all of about three minutes before she pulled over on the side of the road and shut her car off. Then the tears took over.

She didn't know why she was crying. She had made the right decision. Her and Daryl had no business being together. She was supposed to marry Jackson. That's just how it was. She had been so sure of that fact just a week ago. But now, she was still tossing and turning with the decision she had just made. She couldn't go back now, though. She had already done it. She would just have to live with her decision. She wiped the tears away from her face, and she turned her car back on and continued on the road. She still had a lunch she was supposed to be making.

* * *

Later that evening, Annabelle was back at her own home. Sort of. She had gotten home and gone for a walk, and ended up at the small pool that she had spent so many hours at with Daryl. She sat on top of the boulder that lay next to the pool, and looked down at the clear mountain water. She had felt oddly empty after she had left Daryl. She had just lost her best friend. She had thought that she would feel better after talking to him and clarifying the situation, but she felt immensely worse.

Behind her, she heard branches crackling, and she whipped her head around at the sound. In the fading light, she couldn't really see what was coming through the trees, but after a moment she recognized a familiar figure stepping through the tress.

Daryl.

Her breath caught in her throat as she saw him, and she felt herself fill with happiness. "Hey." She said, her voice full of surprise.

"Hey." He replied quietly. He walked over to where she was sitting and sat down next to her.

There was several minutes of silence between them before Daryl spoke. "What'd you do today?" He asked her quietly.

"I went to lunch with Judy." She responded, still shocked he was sitting next to her.

"How was that?"

"Alright. She talked too much I could barely get a word in edgewise." Annabelle answered.

"That the girl with the really curly red hair?" Daryl asked.

"Yes." Annabelle replied.

"Yeah, she never shuts up." He replied, which caused Annabelle to laugh just slightly.

They continued talking that way for the rest of the evening, and suddenly it was as though nothing had ever happened. As though their kiss was just a thing from their imaginations, and their friendship was unmarred by that night. Daryl kept his usual distance from her, and there was no unwarranted touching or close proximities. It was exactly how Annabelle had wanted. Their friendship still intact, while the ring from Jackson sat on her finger. At least, it was what she had thought she wanted. When they parted ways later that night, Annabelle still felt unhappy. She had gotten exactly what she wanted, but it still felt off.

What was missing?

* * *

PRESENT DAY

Daryl

Hell. That was the only way Daryl could describe the past few days of his life. Pure, nonstop, hell.

He was walking now, along some road. Alone and on the verge of giving up.

Rick had told him about the Governor's offer to give over Michonne to stop the war between the two colonies. Daryl had felt off about it, but Rick had made it clear to them that this was not a democracy. So he followed his orders. And so did Merle.

Thankfully, Rick had changed his mind about sending Michonne to be tortured by the Governor. But he had decided just a little bit too late, because his brother had taken it upon himself to finish up the job.

Daryl had been sent to find Merle to stop the deal. And he had just found Merle.

Daryl walked along the road, wiping tears away from his face. His brother was dead. The Governor had killed him. And then Daryl had killed him again.

Daryl had never wanted the comfort of Annabelle's soft skin and voice more than he wanted it now. He had never felt so alone. He longed for the feel of her fingers on his skin, and her lips against his. Anything to make him feel like he was still alive.

Daryl wanted to give up. This was it. He couldn't take anymore of this. Annabelle was gone to him, far away or dead, and he was alone. He felt like the weight of this world was crushing him. He couldn't take it anymore. He couldn't take the constant death and loss. As soon as anything good came into his life it was taken away from him. How could he even want to find Annabelle? At this rate, he would find her and lose her in the same week.

He was walking along the road for some time longer, and the depressing and morbid thoughts came into his mind. He shook his head trying to clear his head, but he couldn't do it.

He was clearly destined to lose everything that meant anything to him. How much longer was it now before the Governor showed up at the prison to completely annihilate everything he held dear to him? Surely it would happen soon now.

Eventually Daryl stumbled upon a lone house with some cars parked out front of it. It looked about as desolate and abandoned as everything else did in the apocalypse. As he looked at this house, he felt anger well up inside of him.

Someone had lived here. Maybe a family. Maybe a young couple, like he and Annabelle. Chances were, they were dead now.

Daryl grabbed a fallen branch from the side of the road, and walked toward the house. He had to take his anger out on something.

He busted through the windows of the cars first. They were easy enough. The windshield was harder, but Daryl found a baseball bat lying in the yard that suited him just fine for what he intended to do.

He smashed the windshields of both of the cars in. He threw the bat toward the house, and it knocked off of it harmlessly. Daryl jumped down from the hood of the car, and found a rock on the ground that he hurled at one of the windows of the house. The window shattered and gave Daryl some satisfaction, but he still couldn't stop the rage that was pulsing through his veins. Merle was dead, and Annabelle was lost to him.

He kicked a potted plant over, and the ceramic shattered softly. The tiny breaking sound gave him no satisfaction, and he walked up the steps to the house. He was about to kick the door in, when suddenly something caught his attention that stopped him.

There was writing on the door. Something was carved into the door. He walked toward the door, and as he did he felt tears well up in his eyes. But not of anger. Of joy.

Written very clearly on the door, was a message. It had the date on it, as well as the name, 'Annabelle', and a small message that read only 'Too dangerous here. Going North.'

Daryl lifted his hand and traced his fingers over the words carved there. The date was recent. Only from a couple of months ago. Sooner than when she had apparently run into Merle.

A relieved laugh escaped Daryl's body as he looked at the words. Just when he had been ready to give up, he found this. He looked toward the sky, and for a moment he contemplated a larger power. Surely it wasn't just luck that had taken him here? Daryl had never been religious, but there were some signs that just couldn't be ignored.

Annabelle was going North. If she was going North, that meant that Daryl needed to go North too. But he wasn't sure how. Alone? No way. He would get killed. Although Annabelle had survived this long on her own.

He could take Ruby. He would have to. As if Ruby would let him not bring her. But the girl wasn't exactly a hunter, and she certainly wasn't even half as good with a gun as her sister had been.

And leaving the prison group now would be cowardly to say the least. They needed him badly. He found himself being torn two ways again. He had been torn when faced with the choice to leave his brother or leave the prison, and now he was torn again. Leave the prison, or go search for Annabelle? He didn't know what to do.

* * *

Daryl returned to the prison, his head full of thoughts. He was still feeling depressed after his brother's death, but finding the message from Annabelle had given him hope for the future.

As he walked into the prison, everyone looked at him questioningly. Michonne was back there, and Daryl was grateful that she had made it back safely. The whole group seemed too afraid to talk to him, but finally he heard Ruby's voice speak up.

"Merle?" Was all she asked.

"He's dead." Daryl replied. He didn't even stop walking, he just marched through the prison and back to his cell. He sat down on the bed, and placed his head in his hands. He felt weighted again. The joy of finding the note from Annabelle had been replaced by the decision he now had to make. Stay at the prison, or go and try to find the woman he was in love with.

Darkness was falling upon the prison when Ruby entered his cell. Daryl was laying down but he hadn't been able to fall asleep yet.

"I'm sorry about Merle." She said simply to him.

Daryl shrugged. "S'alright."

He heard Ruby walking closer to his bed, and she sat down next to the cot and he rolled over to talk to her.

"Are you the last Dixon now?" She asked him.

Daryl felt surprised at her statement. He hadn't even thought of it like that. But he supposed it was true now. "Yeah. I guess I am." It was an odd feeling, to know that you were the last living member of your family. He tried not to linger on the thought, and instead switched the subject to her sister.

"I found something while I was out." He stated.

Ruby tilted her head to the side. "What?" She asked him.

"A note. From Annabelle. It was carved into a door of a house. It had a date from about two months ago, her name, and it said 'going north'."

Ruby's eyes widened at his words, and she lowered her voice the next time she spoke. "What are you going to do?" She asked him.

"I'm not sure yet." He answered honestly. "If I leave though…"

"I'm coming with you." She responded.

Daryl smirked. "I knew you would say that."

"Do you think you're going to leave?" She asked him.

"I don't know." He replied.

"This group… without you. They won't do so well." Ruby stated.

"I know." He answered.

"We can wait… See if things get better." Ruby replied.

"Or wait for the Governor to come knocking on our door and kill all of us." Daryl replied darkly.

"Or that." Ruby replied. "I just.. I want to find Annabelle. I do. But we can't leave now."

Daryl knew she was right. He wanted to find Annabelle, but at what point was the cost too high? He couldn't sacrifice his other friends to go on a merry chase after Annabelle.

"I know." Daryl finally conceded. "We'll have to wait. Soon enough it will be time."

Ruby nodded in response to him. "You know, I feel like every day that goes by we get a little bit closer to her."

Daryl nodded. "I know. I do too."

* * *

The next day, the prison was ready. They sent Beth, Hershel, Carl, and baby Judith away from the prison to wait. They knew that the Governor's attack would come that day.

And it did. They came roaring into the prison yard, and the prison shook as the shot their rocket launchers at the prison. Daryl waited inside the tombs with Rick, and waited for them to come into the depths of the prison.

Just as Michonne had predicted, they went straight into the trap. It didn't take much to scare them off. Once they were caught completely by surprise, his group fled the prison. As they Woodbury group fled the prison, the rest of the prison group came out of hiding and Daryl was relieved to see that they hadn't taken any losses on their side.

They debated briefly on what to do next, and the final consensus was that they needed to finish the war. Daryl suited up with a few others and they pursued the Woodbury group.

Soon enough, they came upon the caravan of cars that had attacked the prison, but something was very wrong.

There were bodies everywhere. Daryl recognized several of the people that had just attacked the prison. This was a slaughter.

They found one lone woman, and she confirmed what Daryl already knew was true. The Governor had led a full blown slaughter against his own people.

This was a dark, twisted man. The woman, Karen, agreed to take them back to Woodbury. They needed to see if he had attacked the town too, and decimated the remainder of the town.

As they rode to Woodbury, Daryl contemplated what had just happened. The Governor was a sick person. There was such wanton death dealt today, so much unnecessary waste of human life. Daryl hadn't seen Andrea's body among those that were dead, and he felt a fear in the pit of his stomach as he thought about what may have happened to the blonde.

He had tried to warn her about this man, but she hadn't wanted to listen. Now it may be too late, and another one of his friends may be dead.

They got to Woodbury, and after a tense stand off with Tyreese and Sasha, they were eventually admitted into Woodbury.

They made their way into the dungeons, and that was where they found Andrea.

She was bit, and Daryl felt sickness in his stomach as he thought of the hell that woman must've been put through in the Governor's torture chamber. He hated abuse on women. It was something that had always disgusted him. And this man was just sick. He was a rapist, a murderer. And he was out there on the loose somewhere.

Andrea was burning up from the fever, and the only thing she requested of them was a gun. They left Michonne and Andrea in the room alone, and Daryl waited outside the room. In the silence that preceded the inevitable shot, Daryl felt oddly alone in this room full of people. As he waited for the sound that would mean Andrea was dead, he felt more empty than he had in a long time. There had been so much loss over the past few days. But now Woodbury wasn't a threat anymore. Maybe, just maybe, things could get better from here out . And with his newfound knowledge of Annabelle's whereabouts, maybe he could find her in her in the near future.

He waited in the hall outside of the torture chamber, and the silence resonated in his ears. Then, out of nowhere, came the telltale shot that told it all. Andrea was dead.

A few minutes later, Michonne emerged from the room with a tear-streaked face. She nodded to Rick, and without another word they headed out of the dungeons. Sasha lead them to where the rest of the town was, and they looked at the frightened people for a moment before Rick made his decision.

"We're going to take them out of here." Rick told Daryl. "Back to the prison."

"You think we can handle this many?" Daryl asked him.

"I was wrong, before." Rick replied. "We need people, if we're going to make it through this." He told Daryl. "People are the best defense against walkers. And as difficult as it may be, I need to start trusting people again."

Daryl nodded to Rick. It sounded like Rick was finally beginning to come back from whatever journey he had taken. It was a good thing to see. Daryl felt a bit of hope rise up in him. It had been some time since he had seen Rick behave this way. It was good to see his best friend turning back into his old self.

They led an exodus of Woodbury. They loaded all of the citizens onto a bus and they headed back toward the prison.

Daryl felt a little anxious about bringing so many bodies back to the prison. Many of them were going to be dependent on the group. It would mean more food they had to find, more medicine that they would need. It would be a challenge, but Rick was right. They needed more people in the prison if they wanted to develop further and survive.

He glanced behind him at the bus as they rode toward the prison. These were more people that he was going to get to know, and that he would have to leave behind when he went to search for Annabelle. He could avoid that, and leave when they got back to the prison, but he knew that Rick had only taken on so many new members because he was sure that Daryl was going to be there to help with the burden.

He couldn't abandon his group. He would never forgive himself if he did. But he would still do his best to search for her. He could direct their food raids in a northern direction, and see if he could find more clues that told him that Annabelle was still alive. Then he could go out by himself on an overnight run or something, find her, and bring her back to the prison.

He was going to find her. He could feel it. And it would be soon. He just couldn't give up. He had to maintain his focus.

They rode back into the prison, and Daryl got off of his motorcycle in the courtyard. The rest of the prison group looked at the bus pulling in with all of the Woodbury survivors with shocked expressions on their faces.

Daryl walked over to Ruby immediately. She didn't look shocked like the others. Rather, he could see her face calculating as she looked at the bus. With the information they had just gained, that her sister had been alive in well just two months ago, Daryl knew that everything Ruby did now would be with finding her sister in mind.

As soon as Daryl walked up to Ruby she began to speak to him, quietly. She didn't want the rest of the group to overhear what they were saying.

"You're going to tell me we can't leave." She said quietly as Daryl walked up to her.

"Yeah." He replied.

Ruby turned her head and made eye contact with him. "If I could go out on my own, I would." She stated to him. "But I can't. I know I wouldn't make it out there long on my own." She paused and let out a sigh before she continued talking to him. "I understand you feel like you have to protect these people, but what about my sister? Doesn't her life mean anything to you?"

Daryl felt irritation well up in his stomach. "You know she means everything to me." He replied to her hotly.

"So why are you wasting time here?" Ruby countered back.

"You know just as well as I do that they need me here. These people depend on me. They need us. We're their family." Daryl replied.

"No. They're my adopted family, maybe." Ruby replied. "But my real sister, she's out there somewhere. She's my family." Ruby took two steps away from Daryl like she was going to walk away, but then she turned back around and stood right next to him. She muttered her last words to him quickly. "How do you know that Annabelle doesn't need you more than these people do? What if she's out there dying right now, and you're waiting here?" With that, Ruby walked away from Daryl and back to the inside of the prison.

Daryl turned his head to watch her leave, too shocked to counter her question. He was still shocked that Ruby had said that to him. She had a point. Annabelle could be in trouble out there right now. And he would have no idea. But would he be able to forgive himself if he abandoned his family and something happened to them while he was out searching for Annabelle? What if he got his love back at the cost of all of the lives in the prison?

Daryl walked away from the bus and instead directed his attention to the outside of the prison. Toward the forest, and the sky.

_What do I do? _He thought in his head. _What do you want me to do? Show me._

Annabelle could be miles away from him, or just on the other side of the fence. He had no way to know, but he still posed his question to her anyway. He looked for some sort of sign, but the trees continued to rustle slightly in the wind, and the sky stayed cloudless and bright.

Apparently the powers that be weren't in the business of giving Daryl more than one sign. He'd received Annabelle's clue, but now he had no idea what to do with it.

He thought of what Annabelle would do in this situation. Or rather, what she would want him to do. And instantly, he had his answer.

Annabelle had already been willing to die once. She had been willing to die on top of the RV, but it meant saving Daryl, Ruby, and Carol. She would want him to stay, and keep the group alive. He could still search, somewhat, but it would be more limited than if he went out on his own. But anything could go wrong if he stayed out of the prison for too long.

Daryl walked away from the fence and back toward the prison. He had to stay. Until things got more stable. Ruby could be mad at him, but he was making the right decision. Annabelle wouldn't have him risk the safety of Carl, Beth, and Judith.

As he walked back to the prison, he had the most peculiar feeling. He felt like wherever Annabelle was, she wasn't dying or in danger like Ruby thought. She was okay, for now. Just like him. And hopefully, she was searching for him just like he'd be searching for her.

* * *

A/N: Sorry for this unusually short chapter, but I had to get out of season 3 in order to give the people what they want! The people is my readers, and what you want is them to be reunited! I promise it is coming! I'm cutting out all unnecessary scenes that I had in my pre-write of this story to give you the quickest route to them being reunited! I feel like I can do it in the next 2-3 chapters, if I write some long chapters and stay up some long nights to get it done! The rest of this story from here on out will be season four and beyond! I'm going to delve into the world of the unknown, and after a certain point I will lose the show as a guide and be writing a storyline completely independent of what's happening in the show.

I designed this story so that only the beginning of the story would be with them separated, and the rest of it would be with them together.

Now, I want you to bear in mind that while it seems like it's taking a while for them to get reunited, in the scope of how long this story is it's really not taking that long. Hopefully, when this story is done it'll be well over 150,000 words. That's my plan anyway.

So, leave me a review, let me know what you think about what's happening, and let me know what you'd like to see in the future of this story! While I have my own ideas and plan for how this all ends, I want to hear where you think the story is headed.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

A/N: At long last, we have reached season 4 of the show! Get ready for things to get even more exciting!

This is another big chapter, and took a long time to write, but it's finally done.

I would like to thank my lovely reviewers,

DarylDixon'sLover, Sugabee14, mrskaz453,Smittendebs, Rea Josette, and The-Last-Timelord95

You guys are awesome!

I'm going to start right where season 4 begins, about three months after season 3. Here goes nothing!

* * *

Present Day

(3 months after Chapter 8, beginning of Summer)

ANNABELLE

The children yelled excitedly as they chased each other around the playground at the school. Annabelle sat on the edge of the playground, underneath a tree to stay out of the sun, with the other teacher in charge of children ages 6-9.

"It's starting to get so hot out." Sierra muttered as she fanned herself.

Annabelle looked over at the other woman and nodded in agreement. "Tell me about it." Sierra West was in her early thirties, just like Annabelle. She had dark skin and dark hair, and before the apocalypse she had taught the fourth grade. Since Annabelle had started working at the school with Sierra, the two women had become very close. She was the closest thing Annabelle had had to a best friend since she left Ruby and Maggie. She and Annabelle were in charge of the younger children that went to the school. There was only ten children in their class, but with the two women teaching them they were giving the children the individual attention they needed and were helping them catch up on all the time they had lost in the initial stages of the apocalypse.

Before the apocalypse, Annabelle had been a third grade teacher. It felt nice to go back to her old job.

"But look at these kids, sprinting around like they don't even notice the heat." Sierra muttered.

Annabelle laughed. "I'm sure you did your fair share of sprinting when you were a kid."

Sierra let out a chuckle. "My mother couldn't have stopped me if she tried."

Annabelle smiled and was about to reply, when the sound of the school door opening caught her attention. She glanced over toward the school to see Logan emerging from the building, and heading their way.

He reached them quickly enough, and he was greeted first by Sierra.

"Well, what brings you to the school Logan?" Sierra asked him. "Need to brush up on your spelling?"

Logan shook his head. "No, I actually need to talk to Annabelle for a minute."

Annabelle looked up at him, surprised. "Me?" She asked.

"Yeah." He replied. "Come walk with me."

Annabelle exchanged a surprised glance with Sierra, before she stood at his request and followed him away from the children and the other woman. They reached the fence of the playground and Logan finally turned to talk to her.

"What's up?" Annabelle asked him.

"I need to talk to you about going on a run." He replied.

Annabelle was confused. She had been going on runs with Logan for some time now. She usually went with him on the weekends, when it wouldn't interrupt her being at the school, but on occasion she joined in the weekday run. Just as Logan had promised, he had started taking Annabelle out with the rest of the raiders, and she kept her eyes opened for any sign of Daryl or Ruby. They had found a few more survivors over the recent months, but still they hadn't found Daryl or Ruby.

"I thought we already talked about this?" She asked him. "The run this weekend. I'm going."

"No, not that run." Logan answered. "This one is a little different."

Annabelle turned her head sideways and gave him a confused look. "What do you mean?"

Logan sighed heavily before he spoke again. "Annabelle, I would never ask something of you if I felt like I wouldn't be able to keep you safe. And I don't like that I am about to ask you to do something that I know will be putting you in a place that I can't keep you safe in."

Annabelle felt nervousness begin to bubble in her stomach. "Ok. Let's hear it." She replied.

Logan paused before he began to explain. "Sean has been working on a project. A pretty big one. The problem is, the tools that he needs to finish it we don't have here, and they aren't exactly easy to come by."

"So you want me to help you find something?" Annabelle asked him. She was getting more confused by the minute.

"Not quite." He answered. "We've already found what he needs, but we can't really get to it. But I think you can."

Annabelle's curiosity was peaked now. "Go on." She said.

"The piece that we need is inside of a building. That building is partially collapsed. The room that the missing component is in is blocked off to us, we can't get to it. There's a lot of rubble in the way, and moving it might disturb the building. There's an air duct system that we think is still mostly intact, and could get us into the other room. But just like everything else in the building, it's unstable. And small. My men and I are too heavy and too big to fit into the system without possibly causing it to collapse, but-"

"But I'm tiny and light." Annabelle finished.

"Right." Logan said.

"So, in and out. Sounds easy enough." Annabelle replied.

Logan didn't answer her right away, and then Annabelle realized that there must be a catch.

"… What is it?" She asked him.

"The place we're going, it's not like the places we normally go to." Logan said finally.

"What do you mean?" Annabelle asked him.

"It's overrun." Logan replied. "It's pretty bad. I didn't want to go back. But unfortunately when we took our vote I was outvoted."

Overrun? Annabelle had seen overrun before. The night at the barn. She let out a tense sigh, and ran her fingers through her hair nervously.

"What do you think?" Annabelle finally said. "Is what they need worth the risk?"

Logan shifted on his feet before he spoke again. "I don't know that it is. But, I can let you decide for yourself. I think you'll find it more valuable than I do."

"Why do you say that?" Annabelle asked him.

"You'll see." He replied. "Stop by the town hall when you're done working today and we'll talk more about this."

Annabelle nodded. "Alright." She replied. Logan had piqued her interest in this, and she was eager to learn more about what their resident genius was working on. And what on earth it was that Annabelle would think was so important.

She began to walk away from Logan, and back towards Sierra and the children, when she heard Logan speak again.

"Annabelle!" He called to her.

She stopped walking and turned around to look at Logan. He took a few steps to catch up with her, and stopped when he was just in front of her.

"Don't let them just talk you into this." He stated to her. "If you don't want to do this once you see the full briefings, just tell me. I'll make sure this isn't brought up to you again."

Annabelle nodded to Logan, and turned and continued to walk back to Sierra. Behind her, she heard Logan hesitate before she heard him walk back into the school.

"What was all that about?" Sierra asked as Annabelle walked back up to her.

"Something about a run." Annabelle replied.

Sierra nodded and stayed quiet for a moment before she cast Annabelle an almost mischievous look. "You know, he likes you."

Annabelle shot Sierra a skeptical look. "Please, Sierra."

"No, I'm serious. I think he likes you."

Annabelle shook her head. "And I think you're delusional."

"He's a good man, and not bad to look at." Sierra countered.

"I'm well aware of his good deeds and his good looks." Annabelle replied immediately. "But I'm spoken for."

"That's right." Sierra replied. "You have your Daryl."

Annabelle smiled slightly at the mention of his name. Her fingers went up to her neck, and she fingered the necklace resting their bemusedly. "Yes, I do." She answered.

"Do you really think you're going to find him? After all this time?" Sierra replied.

"I found him against all odds once before. I can do it again." Annabelle replied easily.

* * *

Annabelle finished up the day at the school. They taught the children some math and science after they got in from recess, and then Annabelle headed up to town hall as Logan had told her to do earlier. She went into the building, and made her way to the room that she had come to know as Logan's office. She knocked on the door, and she heard his voice bid her to come in.

She entered the office, and inside Logan was waiting with the leader of Haven, Michael. Michael immediately stood up when Annabelle entered the room and began speaking to her.

"Annabelle. Always a pleasure to see you." As always, his voice was warm and welcoming.

"Likewise." She replied.

"I appreciate that you're willing to hear us out on this subject. It certainly means a lot." He continued.

"I'm willing to do what I can to help out." Annabelle replied.

Michael nodded to her and then began to walk out of the office. He gestured for Annabelle and Logan to follow her, and she did.

"I'm going to bring you to what we like to refer to as the 'technology room'. This is where Sean spends most of his time. And this is where he's been working on our latest project."

Michael led her a ways further into the building, until he finally came to a closed door. He swung the door open, and inside was a very dark room, with a single lightbulb hanging in the middle of the room. And everywhere, there were computer monitors lit up brightly. Some of them were feeds from security cameras, some were just computers. There were several workdesks covered with various parts, and at one of the workdesks was a young boy, with Sean watching over his shoulder.

Sean turned as they entered the room, and so did his young counterpart. The boy with him appeared to be around 16, and had curly dark brown hair and glasses. Annabelle had met him before.

"Hello." Sean greeted them in an exceptionally monotone voice. Annabelle hadn't gotten used to talking with him yet. He seemed so detached sometimes, and it was clear that he wasn't used to being around so many people. "You remember Caleb, don't you? My apprentice?" He asked Annabelle as he gestured to the young boy.

Caleb. That was his name. The boy had shown promise at solving complex problems, and so he had been partnered with Sean. They did this for the youths living inside of Haven, once they were old enough. Annabelle remembered seeing the old man in the general store with an apprentice. And she recalled that Veronica had also gotten an apprentice down in customs. There were more of them that Annabelle saw around. This was to help them specialize in their talents and give them practical experience in the world they lived in now.

"Yes, I remember." Annabelle replied. "It's nice to see you again Caleb."

The boy nodded to Annabelle, before Michael spoke. "Sean, Annabelle has agreed to hear us out on our task that we have for her. Would you like to explain to her what you're building?"

Immediately, Sean's eyes lit up excitedly. "Yes, of course." He replied immediately. He walked across to a different work bench where he grabbed some rolls of paper. He then gestured for Annabelle and the others to walk toward a large table in the center of the room. Annabelle walked over, and Sean unrolled the papers onto the desk.

Annabelle saw several blueprints unfurl before her, and Sean began talking excitedly.

"Now, we know that if we're going to survive this, we need people." Sean began. "And if we want to venture very far from Haven, we're going to need a way to communicate over long distances with the town and our raid groups."

He pulled a blueprint out from underneath one of the others, and placed it on top. Immediately, Annabelle's eyes widened as she looked at it.

"It's a radio tower." She said simply.

"Essentially." Sean replied. "But, mine would be able to transmit and receive frequencies for hundreds of miles, if I have the parts I need for it. That means, we could stay in contact with our people all the way across Georgia, even into parts of Tennessee and North Carolina. And we could stream a continuous frequency that could be broadcasted over any radio. The one's in people's cars for instance."

"Our goal here, Annabelle, is to keep in contact with our boys. And to transmit a signal that other survivors could hear, and tell them about Haven."

A transmittable signal telling anyone with a radio to come to Haven. For hundreds of miles. Annabelle's mind reeled. To her, this tower meant that Daryl would be able to hear this signal for miles around. And that he might be able to come to Haven.

Immediately, she looked up at Logan and met eyes with him. He had already been looking at her, and now she understood why he had said she would find this particular project to be important.

"What are you planning on transmitting?" Annabelle asked them.

"I'll play it for you." Sean replied. He walked over to one of the computers in the room, and clicked a few keys before audio started playing from the computer.

"To all of those out there, who are still alive. We send a message. Survive. There is a sanctuary from this hell. We have food, water, medical supplies, and numbers." The message went on to give location coordinates, and then began to repeat. Sean shut it off as it started to repeat, and Michael spoke again.

"The coordinates are to a safe location, about thirty minutes away from Haven." Michael continued. "We'll be able to communicate with any survivors that go to the area via radio, and then we can go pick them up, evaluate their mental state, and then bring them back here. The need for this as far as scouting is obvious. We could have groups go out, and know exactly where they are at all times, send back up if need be." Michael paused before he continued. "It is dangerous. The area that you would be going to is not what we deem safe by any means. There are high concentrations of Changed inside and outside of the building. Sean will teach you the basics of recognizing what he needs, and will be on radio with you once you're inside of the part of the building we need access too. Logan and his team will be with you until you get into the vents, and he'll keep you safe."

Annabelle nodded. "Ok. I'm in." For her, this was a no brainer, despite the risk. If it meant doing something that would bring her one step closer to Daryl, then she would do it.

Logan let out a heavy sigh, but Michael beamed at Annabelle. "Thank you, Annabelle. You're doing a great service to our community." He stated to her.

Annabelle nodded in response to his words, and Logan gestured to her to follow him out of the room. She followed out after him, and as soon as she did he started talking to her. "I'll get you briefed up on the run." Logan stated. They walked through the building and back into Logan's office.

"We'll leave in three days." He said to her as they walked in the office. "I'll go out today and set noise traps with some of my men. Try to lure some of them away from the building."

He walked behind his desk and stood while Annabelle took a seat.

"Why don't you want me to do this?" She asked him, ignoring the planning talk he was trying to have with her. "We could really use this. Can you imagine the distance we could cover on runs? The amount of people this would bring in?"

"At what cost?" Logan countered her. "I've been to the building, Annabelle. It was swarmed with those things. We barely made it out."

"You're a great commander, Logan." Annabelle countered. "I've seen you out there. You survived situations with ease that would easily take out other survivors. And you've got years of military experience backing you."

"With a full Seal Team, sure." Logan replied. "These guys aren't Seals. Some of them are good, but it's complicated. If I had a team like that I wouldn't worry about it. But what if I lose someone cause we aren't prepared? What if I lose a lot of people?"

"So you're afraid you're going to lose people?" Annabelle replied. "You know that you and I walk into situations on a weekly basis that we may not come out of." She'd had a couple close calls with Logan on runs before, but he always managed to get them out safely.

"This is different, Annabelle. Normally we go and find places that have hardly any of those geeks. I don't like that I'm deliberately leading you into a place that is so dangerous that I wouldn't have normally gone anywhere near it. If anything were to happen to you while we were out there, under my command-" He stopped himself and sighed heavily. "It doesn't matter. You've made your decision. And if you want to get involved in this, I'm gonna be there with you."

"You don't have to protect me, Logan." Annabelle stated.

"Don't you get it?" He replied back. "I want to keep you safe."

At his words, Sierra's comment from earlier sprang into the back of her mind. He was protecting her because he cared about her. Annabelle understood that now. Annabelle stood and met eyes with Logan carefully before she spoke. "I'm not your responsibility." She stated to him sternly before she turned around and walked out of his office.

She walked down the hall and out of the building, and headed back toward her house. She knew now Sierra may have been on to something when she had been talking earlier, but Annabelle wasn't going to let herself be affected by his statement to her. Logan was a good man, and a good friend to her. But he wasn't Daryl, and he never would be. She had made the mistake once of taking Daryl for granted. She would never do that again.

Annabelle continued on the long walk to her house, and contemplated the run that was supposed to take place in the next couple of days. She hoped that this latest development with Logan wouldn't complicate things. From the sound of it, they couldn't afford to have anyone be in anything but their peak performance. She needed this run to go well, and she needed to acquire whatever it was that Sean needed in order to make this tower work. If this tower became functional, she could search well beyond the areas that she had been searching in. And if they were constantly broadcasting out, it meant Daryl might be able to hear the signal, and maybe he would come to their safe zone.

After some time, she reached her house. She had stopped staying at the motel just recently, and had moved into a house of her choosing on the outskirts of town. It was a nice house, and had probably been worth quite a bit of money when the world wasn't run by Walkers. But she had been allowed to have the house. It was a three bedroom house, with an office. It was mostly completely furnished. It had a large backyard that ran all the way down to the lake, and there was a small gazebo by the water. The house was fenced in around it when she had gotten it, and she'd requested a small stable be built in the large yard out back. She kept Gypsy here with her, now. Usually she rode her into town to work, but today had been a nice day so Annabelle had walked.

Annabelle unlocked the front door to her house and walked inside. She set her things down on the table before she continued to the double French doors that led out to the porch and back yard. She walked outside the house, and began her walk down the yard toward Gypsy's stable. The horse whinnied a greeting, and Annabelle opened the door of the horses stall and let her out into the enclosed yard. She jogged happily forward and began loping about the yard, and Annabelle hopped up onto the fence railing to watch the horse.

Daryl was almost within her grasp, she could feel it. When this run was complete, she would find him. If he was alive, he would be back in her arms very soon.

* * *

A few days later, and it was time. Annabelle and Logan hadn't talked very much over the past few days, just brief discussions about the upcoming run. She felt his eyes on her a few times, but he didn't say anything so forward as he had said the other day.

Sean had shown her pictures of what she needed to find, and he would be on the walkie with her while she was looking to point her in the right direction. They got ready at town hall, and Annabelle suited up. Her bow was left behind this time, and instead replaced with a silenced automatic rifle. They weren't taking any chances here. She had a pistol, and big knife as well. Around her, the men she was going with were armed to the teeth as well.

Michael was staying behind in the town, but Logan was going. He had hand picked the group they were going with. Sean was there as well, but his apprentice got left behind.

They all loaded into the Jeep, and as Annabelle sat down in the back of the military vehicle and looked at the men around her, she felt herself growing nervous. A lot was depending on her.

Behind their jeep was a huge eighteen-wheeler with just a flat bed on the back. Apparently on top of this building was an old antenna, that they were either going to salvage all or most of. Annabelle would be inside the building while they were working on the top of it. Hopefully the building wouldn't come crashing down on her.

The jeep began to roll, and the rest of the convoy with it. Annabelle let out an anxious breath, and as she did Logan looked over to her.

"You nervous?" He asked her.

Annabelle nodded her head. "A little bit." She replied.

"You'll be fine." He told her. "Don't worry."

Annabelle nodded in response, and they were silent for most of the ride. The rest of the men in the group didn't seem to want to talk very much, and Annabelle didn't blame them.

Eventually, Logan looked down at the watch on his wrist and started talking to the group of them.

"Alright." He began simply, causing everyone in the back of the jeep to look at him. "We'll be arriving at our destination in about five minutes. Remember what we've talked about, the plan we've gone over. Stay in formation, and we'll stay safe. It's as simple as that. Myself, Annabelle, and Luke will be going inside of the building to get into the vent system. Joe and Brandon, you shut that door behind us and we'll seal it off, then you two go meet up with the crew that's gonna be working on that antenna. Protect them at all costs until they get what they need from that antenna. Luke, Annabelle and I will deal with whatever is on the inside of that building. Understood?"

Everyone nodded at him, and the rest of the ride was a tense silence. Finally, the jeep slowed to a stop, and everyone climbed out of it.

Annabelle saw the building for the first time. It looked like it used to be some kind of broadcast station that had been converted into a military base of some sort. There were tents set up all around the building in that army green color. It seemed relatively empty right now, but from a ways down the road she could hear music playing. The music trap.

Sean got out of one of the other vehicles, and began giving directions for how they were going to get the parts of the antenna down that he needed. People began buzzing around, and then Logan called over to Annabelle. "Come on." He said to her. "Let's get moving."

Logan, Luke, Joe, Brandon, and Annabelle headed through the camp toward the building itself. The building was run down, to say the least. There were vines growing all over it, and it looked like one part of the building had already collapsed in.

Logan and Luke took out two walkers in the front, while bringing up the rear Joe and Brandon took out several more coming up from the sides and behind. Annabelle was in the center of the group, being protected. She was the only one that could get into that vent system, and she was going to be kept safe as long as possible.

They took out several more walkers before they reached the entrance to the building. Logan opened the door, and it creaked open slowly. Inside the building was completely pitch black. Logan turned his flashlight on and shone it inside of the lobby to reveal that it was empty.

"Alright, Brandon, Joe, go back and protect the crew dealing with that antenna." Logan ordered the other two men. They nodded, and jogged back toward the convoy. Logan then turned his eyes to Annabelle and Luke. "Alright, let's do this."

Annabelle clicked the flashlight attached to the front of her gun on, and Luke did the same. They walked inside of the building, and Luke shut the door behind them.

As the door shut, they were plunged into darkness. Their flashlights lit the lobby sporadically, and Annabelle was aware of an unusual amount of quiet, save for the rustling groans that were present distantly in other parts of the building.

Logan started walking forward fist, and Annabelle followed closely behind him. Luke took up the rear. "Stay as quiet as possible." Logan whispered behind them. "And flip your walkies on."

Annabelle turned the walkie she was wearing on, and she heard a beep in the earpiece she was wearing telling her it was on.

"Sean, you hear me?" Logan whispered into the device. It was strange to hear his voice in front of her, and again inside of her ear. A second later, Sean's voice responded.

"Yeah, I hear you." Sean's voice replied. "Annabelle, can you hear me?" Sean asked.

"Yeah, I hear you." Annabelle replied into the mouthpiece.

"Good. Excellent." Sean responded. "Keep me updated, let me know when you're at the vent."

"Heard." Logan responded. With that, they were resumed to silence, save for the constant presence of the dim walker snarls.

Logan waved them forward with his hand toward a door on the far side of the lobby. Annabelle stepped carefully over the broken glass, papers, and dirt that littered the floor of the Lobby, making sure to try and stay as silent as possible. They reached the door, and Annabelle immediately pressed herself against the right side of the door, and Luke went to the left of it. From inside the room, there was the sound of shuffling and the occasional moan. Something was in there.

"Stay in formation." Logan whispered to them. "And clear your section of the room."

Annabelle and Luke nodded to Logan, and he reached forward toward the door. He pushed the door open quickly, and lunged into the room. She immediately heard him firing shots, so she knew the room must be full. Luke followed behind him, and Annabelle behind Luke.

Logan was in a crouched position immediately in front of the door, firing into the center of the room. And this room was packed full of walkers. They were literally all Annabelle could see. Logan had taken out the first line of them it seemed like. Luke was firing into the left of the room, standing fully, and Annabelle entered the doorway and began firing into the right side of the room.

She fired with deadly accuracy, firing into the heads of the walkers, but they kept coming. To her left, Logan said aloud, "Reloading." And automatically, Annabelle and Luke paid attention to the center as well as their sides, making sure none of the creatures approached anywhere near Logan. He was quick, though, and in the next second he was back to firing off.

Finally, the room was cleared, and there was a large mound of bodies about midway across the room, where they had kept the line of walkers held off at. Logan stood once the room was clear, and looked around for a moment before he spoke again. "Let's keep moving." He stated. And they continued through the building. They went through a hall and entered into another room. They cleared that room, and Luke jogged across the room to seal off the door that they had been entering into. On one side of the room, it was clear the ceiling had fallen in somewhat, and there was debris blocking the door there.

"What we need is in one of the rooms on the other side of that door, if it's here. We've checked all of the other rooms that we have access too." Logan stated, gesturing to the blocked doorway. He led Annabelle over to a vent set into the roof of the room. "And this is where I need you to go." Logan stated, gesturing to the vent.

"Alright." Annabelle replied.

They pulled a table across the room and underneath the vent, and Logan hopped on top of the table and took the metal covering off of the vent. Annabelle hopped up onto the table and stood next to him, and looked up into the vent and saw only darkness.

"I don't know what's in the other part of this building." Logan told her. "But it could be just as bad as any of the other parts we've encountered. If there's too many, you come right back here, okay? This isn't worth your life."

"I understand." Annabelle replied. "I'll be careful."

Logan met eyes with her, and Annabelle was taken back slightly by the intense look he gave her. "Stay on your walkie. If things go south, if they go really bad, I'll be there."

"How?" Annabelle replied.

"I'll find a way." He responded. He touched his walkie and began talking into it. "Sean. We're at the vent."

Sean's voice crackled through the walkie. "Excellent. Annabelle, let me know when you've gotten into the other part of the building."

"Will do." Annabelle replied into the device.

Annabelle shook her bag off of her shoulder to lighten the weight that would be put on the delicate structure. She kept her guns and knife with her, and a small knapsack for her to carry the parts back in. She attached a flashlight to her head, and she was ready to go. Logan locked his fingers together, and Annabelle placed her foot in his hand, and he boosted her up into the vent.

The vent went straight up for a little, but then it opened up flat in two directions. One back toward the way they came, and another in the direction that the other section of the building was in. She hoisted herself into the vent and onto the side she was supposed to go.

She understood now what Logan said about the vent being tight. It was a close squeeze for her, and she couldn't imagine him trying to work his way in here. She began to crawl through the vent, and as she did she felt the structure shudder slightly and groan. Annabelle froze at the sound, and waited for it to stop shaking before she moved along, slower and more carefully than she had the first time.

Eventually, she came to another opening down to the floor. She listened carefully at the entrance, and heard the soft moans of walkers. This was a place they hadn't come to before. "I'm about to drop into the other room." Annabelle whispered into the walkie. Above her, she heard footsteps and tools. The men must've started their work on getting the pieces off of the antenna.

She hung herself down over the edge of the vent, and pushed down hard on the metal grate. It crashed to the floor, and Annabelle jumped down after it.

She landed hard on top of some kind of desk. She surveyed the room quickly, and as she did she saw that it was home to several walkers. The ones closest to her she took out with her rifle, firing quick shots to take them down. She hopped off the desk once they were done, and finished off the rest of the walkers in the room. All of the one's that she shot down moved slower than usual, and were stick thin. They must have been trapped in here for some time. For Annabelle, that just confirmed to her that she was trapped in this side of the building.

"I'm in." She whispered into the walkie.

"Great." Sean's voice immediately responded. "Start looking around and see if you can find a room with a ton of computers."

Annabelle did as he said, and explored several more rooms before she suddenly stumbled onto a room filled with technology.

"I found it." She whispered into the walkie.

"Ok. The room you're looking for is most likely directly adjacent to the one you're in." Sean directed her. "The door may look like a closet, but it's not. Look around. The room you enter should be filled with hard drives, switchboards, circuit boards, wires, all that stuff."

Annabelle opened a door adjacent to the room to only find a cleaning closet. She sighed in disappointment, but kept looking. She shone the light around the room, and eventually came upon another door. She opened it, and this looked like exactly what she was looking for.

"I'm in." She said into the walkie again.

"Good. Good." Sean replied. "You remember what I showed you I need?"

"Yes, pretty much." Annabelle replied.

"Okay. Start looking for circuit boards that look like that."

Annabelle did as he said, and eventually found the section he was looking for. He talked her through all of the tech stuff, and eventually she had gathered everything that Sean needed, down to the part number.

"Alright, that's all I need." Sean said into her ear. "Great job, Annabelle. Head on back."

Annabelle felt her heart fill with warmth over this victory. This was the step she needed to get Daryl and her sister back. She made her way back to the room she had come from, and placed a chair on top of the desk she had originally jumped onto. She used the unsteady structure to climb back into the vent.

"Ok. I'm in the vent. See you guys in a second."

"Good job, Annabelle." Logan's voice came through on the walkie. Annabelle started moving through the vents again, but she stopped suddenly when she heard voices above her sounding panicked. She froze inside of the vent, and suddenly she heard cracking sounds coming from the building itself. She heard the groan of a loud metal structure, and then the whole building started to shake. Annabelle suddenly felt her stomach drop as the vent system collapsed, and then there was nothing.

Annabelle woke up seconds later, her head pounding. Her walkie was blaring loudly in her ear as voices yelled through the device. Her vision was blurry, and Annabelle shifted her weight. As she did, she felt pieces of the ceiling slide off of her. She had no idea where she was, she didn't recognize the room she had fallen into. On the far side of the room, a door was just barely cracked, and there was light streaming through the crack. That was unusual, every part of this building Annabelle had been in had been dark. Even the rooms with windows. The vines were so overgrown on most of the building that it blocked the sun out. Annabelle's head continued to pound as she tried to figure out where she could be, and the voices of many people yelling in her ear didn't help.

"What the hell was that?!" She heard Logan yelling.

"The antenna collapsed onto the north side of the building! It was unstable, messing with it must've been just enough to send it over."

"Goddmanit!" Logan's voice came through. "Annabelle! Are you ok?"

Annabelle was distantly aware her name was being called, but her ears were still ringing and her head was still pounding.

"Annabelle!" Logan's voice came again.

Annabelle fumbled around, trying to find the button she needed to press in the dim light of the room. "Yeah." She finally managed to mumble when she found the button. "I think I'm ok. The vent collapsed. I don't know where I am though."

"It's alright, Annabelle. Try to find your flashlight." Logan's voice directed her.

She fumbled through the rubble, and eventually found the head piece she had been wearing. She hit the flashlight a few times on her palm, and eventually it flickered back on.

She didn't recognize the room she was in, she hadn't been here before.

"I found the light. But I don't know where I am, I haven't been here before." She muttered into the walkie.

"Are there Changed in the room with you?" He asked her.

"I don't see any right now." Annabelle replied. She shone a light around the room, and froze when she saw the cracked door on the other side. "But there's a door in here that's open. My gun fell, too. I can't see it."

"Can you get up and close the door?" Logan asked her.

Annabelle tried to stand, but as she did pain shot up her leg from her ankle. She cried out in pain, and touched her ankle. It felt tender to the touch. "I hurt my ankle." She called over the walkie. "It's broken or sprained or something. I can't put any weight on it."

"Don't try to." He responded. "I'm coming now to find you. Stay put. Get your weapon and you stay there."

Annabelle felt her pistol still on her side along with her knife. She felt through the rubble of the collapsed ceiling and tried to find her rifle. As she did, she noticed that her bag was gone as well. "Shit." She muttered to herself. She continued to rustle through the rubble, trying to find her gun and her bag. She found her bag first, and she opened it to check what was inside it. It looked like everything was intact, and Annabelle breathed a sigh of relief. As she breathed out, she felt a sharp pain in her side. Annabelle looked down at her side, and saw her shirt beginning to darken with blood. She looked around, and realized she had fallen on top of a desk, but it had broken as she had fallen on it. She must have cut her side on a sharp shard of metal. She pressed down against the wound, trying to stop the blood flow, but there was a lot of blood, and the pain was intense as soon as she touched it. She lifted her shirt, and felt her body fill with numb shock as she looked at the wound. It was pretty deep. She lowered her shirt, and tried to focus on surviving past this.

"Logan." She muttered into the walkie.

"I'm here." He replied immediately.

"I'm hurt, Logan." She replied.

She heard the click that said he was pushing the button, but he hesitated for several seconds before he answered.

"How bad is it?" He finally asked her.

Annabelle clicked the button. "Bad." She answered.

"Hold on, Annabelle. I'm coming. Just hold on."

Annabelle began to try to find her gun again, but she stopped suddenly when she heard movement coming from the door. She heard the shuffling moans, and Annabelle quickly shut off her light and laid as flat as she could against the rubble. "There's walkers in the hall." She whispered into her walkie.

"Don't shoot at them. Stay as quiet as possible, I'm going to find you."

Annabelle listened to him, and stayed silent. She laid her body still in the rubble, and tried to keep her eye on the doorway. She heard the sounds of walkers stumbling by in the hall. It seemed like most of them had gone, but then she heard the door creak open. She looked up as best as she could and saw two walkers stumbling into the room. Annabelle unsheathed her knife as quietly as she could, and waited. She knew she must be reeking, the blood coming from her side was flowing easily now.

One of the walkers paused, and began to move as though he was sniffing the air. Annabelle felt her breath freeze in her chest, and then the walker began stumbling quickly toward her. Annabelle was forced to move. She backed away from the walker as best as she could, and he continued to advance on her. She wasn't high enough up to stab him in the head, so she did her second best option.

She pulled her pistol out of its holster, and fired a shot at the creature's head. It fell, and the other one advanced even more quickly on her. She fired again, and when the creature fell, she ignored the pain in her foot and charged for the door.

She cried out as she put pressure on her leg, and she fell almost immediately after standing. But those shots were going to bring every walker in the hall in this room.

She stood again, and half fell half ran toward the door. Just as she got to it, a walker came charging at it. She slammed the door, but its body was caught in the door. The creature snarled and snapped at her as she tried to shut the door. Annabelle pushed her weight against the door and grabbed her knife and stabbed the walker through the eye. It fell, but its body stayed in the way of the door. "Shit. Shit. Shit." Annabelle muttered urgently as she tried to use her weight to keep the walkers out of the room. She felt searing pain through her leg and her side, and became aware that her own blood was dripping down her face She must have cut her head too. But she ignored the pain and the blood dripping into her eyes. She was beginning to feel a little light headed from blood loss, but she tried to snap back into focus. She had to survive this. She had come too far to die now.

"Were those shots you?" Logan asked her over the walkie. Annabelle pressed her back against the partially shut door and reached over to tap the button on her walkie. "Yes." She replied. "I had to. They were going to kill me."

"It's alright, I heard them. I think you fell on this side of the building, we should be able to get to you."

"Hurry up, Logan." She replied into the walkie. She continued to press her weight against the door, but it buckled violently as the creatures began to build up against it. Her leg was about to give on her, she could feel it. Annabelle yelled and pushed back harder against the door, trying to hold out just long enough for Logan to get there.

Just when she thought she couldn't hold it anymore, she heard rushed footsteps outside the hall, and then the sound of silenced shots being fired. Slowly, the pressure came off the door. As it did, Annabelle collapsed next to the door, panting.

The door pushed open, and then Logan and Luke filled Annabelle's sight.

Immediately, Logan crouched down next to her. He wiped some of the blood away that was dripping on her face, and held her face in his hands. "Are you alright? Did you get bit?"

Annabelle shook her head, and Logan nodded. "I'm gonna pick you up." He scooped her up into his arms, and as he did Annabelle cried out in pain. Now that she wasn't fighting for her life against the walkers, she was beginning to feel the pain of her fall from the ceiling.

"Get her gun." Logan ordered Luke. Luke ran into the room and rustled around in the rubble for a moment before he found it.

"Let's go." Logan ordered him. Luke ran ahead of Logan, and Logan ran behind him. They burst into the hall, and as they did sunlight flooded Annabelle's eyes. She looked around confusedly, then saw part of the crashed antenna coming through the roof of the hallway. She had been right next to where that thing had collapsed.

"Logan!" Sean's voice came over the walkie. "We gotta go! That group of walkers heard the antenna collapse, they're all coming this way!"

Outside the building, Annabelle heard shots ringing out. Her head was pounding still, and she felt herself slipping out of consciousness.

"I'm on it Sean, give me a minute!" Logan yelled back into the walkie.

They ran through the rest of the building, until finally they burst out into the sun. Annabelle was completely blinded, but she couldn't hardly see anything that was going on. Her vision was getting blurrier by the second, and she realized it was from blood loss.

"Jesus." Logan muttered as he looked down at her. Annabelle looked at him and realized he was covered in blood, and it was mostly hers. She heard shots echoing around her, but Annabelle began to fade out.

"Stay with me Annabelle." Logan urged her. "Don't fall asleep on me."

Annabelle tried to focus on the sound of his voice as best she could. She heard the sound of gunfire intensify until it was almost a chorus of shots. She felt a sudden shift in height, and then she heard the slamming of the car doors. There was a lot of shouting outside, and Annabelle felt her body being lowered down.

She heard cloth ripping, and then she felt a sharp pressure on the wound in her side. She cried out in discomfort, and she heard Logan's voice. "It's alright, stay with me." He said softly to her.

"Let's get this thing moving!" Logan yelled back at the driver. "She's bleeding out!"

Annabelle felt the jerk of the car moving, and Logan stayed right with her. "Annabelle. Annabelle look at me." He ordered her.

Her eyes flickered briefly before she looked over at him. "You're gonna be fine, ok?" He told her. "We'll be back soon, and you'll be fine."

She nodded her head as he spoke, and tried to focus on his voice rather than the pounding in her head and the pain in her side. Slowly, his voice began to seem more distant to her, and she began to fade out.

* * *

Annabelle woke up in a clean bed, inside of what she recognized as the doctors office. She looked over, and she was hooked up to an IV. She lifted the sheet of the bed, and looked down. She was covered in a clean dressing gown, but she lifted the gown and saw a large patch covering her side where he cut was. She felt another bandage on her head, and she felt that her ankle was wrapped.

"You're awake."

Annabelle looked over to see Dr. Pride standing in the doorway, a pleased smile on her face.

"How long have I been out for?" Annabelle asked.

"Just two days." Dr. Pride replied. "I had you sedated, though. To keep the pain at bay and to let your body get some good rest. You should be able to be up and around in a few days."

"Thank you." Annabelle replied.

Dr. Pride nodded before she walked over to her bedside. "I should tell you now. Two men were lost on that run."

Annabelle felt a heavy weight fall on her chest. "Logan.. He made it?"

"Oh, yes. Of course." Dr. Pride replied. "He was here a few hours ago, to check on you. He was a wreck when he brought you in. I told him he shouldn't blame himself for what happened."

Annabelle nodded to her. "Did we get everything we needed?" She asked.

Dr. Pride smiled, and walked over to a radio on her bedside. She turned it on, and instantly the automated message that they had planned to broadcast began playing.

Annabelle smiled with relief. "That's good news."

"It certainly is. You did good work out there." Dr. Pride replied. "You all did." She walked away from Annabelle and back towards the door. "You should get some rest."

"My ankle…" Annabelle asked. "Is it broken?"

"No. Just badly sprained. Right now, I'm going to go ahead and give a prognosis for a full recovery." Dr. Pride smiled gently at Annabelle as she replied. "Get some rest." With that, Dr. Pride exited the room, and shut the door behind her softly.

Annabelle sighed, and felt like she wouldn't be able to sleep, but decided to close her eyes anyway. She was surprised at how exhausted she felt instantly, and she settled back into a deep sleep.

She woke a few hours later, and when she did she was aware that there was a person sitting beside her. She looked over, and after a few blinks she recognized Logan sitting at her bedside.

"Hey." She said warmly as soon as she recognized him.

"Hey." He replied. "I'm glad you're okay."

"I'm glad you are." She replied. "I heard we lost a couple of guys on the run."

"When the building collapsed, yeah." Logan replied.

"Well, thanks to you I made it out with just a couple of bumps and bruises." Annabelle replied to him.

Logan gave her a half smile, but he seemed distant.

"What's wrong?" She asked him.

"If it wasn't for me, you wouldn't have been in this situation. I was the one that put you in that situation. I got you into the building, and I boosted you into that vent system. I knew how dangerous it was. I should've stopped this whole operation. I would've saved two lives if I had refused to do this run."

"We all volunteered for this." Annabelle replied. "We all knew the dangers. None of this was your fault."

Logan nodded but Annabelle could see from the look on his face that he wasn't fully convinced. "Yeah." He replied. "I'm just glad you're ok."

Annabelle tried to give a smile to Logan. "Cheer up." She said to him. "We live to fight another day."

He nodded to her. "Yeah. We do."

"Don't be too hard on yourself, Logan." Annabelle told him. "You've saved so many people. Think about all of them. You saved me."

He let out a small sigh before he spoke again. "You're right." He said. "And saving you was definitely one of the best things I ever did." With that, he stood up. He made for the door, and paused at the doorway like he was going to say more, but then continued out of the room without a word.

* * *

A/N: And that's the end of chapter 9! Woohoo! Leave me a review, and tell me what you think about this latest development at Haven!

Since I have so many O/C's in this story, I'm gonna give a full play-by list for anyone who's curious. Some of these you already know, but some of them are new.

Annabelle Miller: Brooklyn Decker

Ruby Miller: Anne Hathaway

Logan Weiss: Gerard Butler

Michael Harris: Will Smith

Sean Calder: Wentworth Miller

Sierra West: Zoe Saldana


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

A/N: Thank you guys for reading! I want to thank my reviewers!

DarylDixon'sLover, mrskaz453, smittendebs, The-Last-Timelord95, Rea Josette, HermioneandMarcus, HippyElephant, and my lone guest reviwer. Thank you so much your reviews inspire me to keep writing!

Here's chapter 10! Enjoy!

* * *

Present Day

DARYL

Things had been going well at the prison. They had been prospering, and Daryl had brought back plenty more survivors on his runs. But still no Annabelle.

However, lately things at the prison had taken a dramatic turn for the worse. It had started with losing Zach on the run to Big Lots. But then, a disturbing sickness had swept through the prison like wildfire. One of the cell blocks had been almost completely wiped out. And people were dropping like flies.

The sickness was frightening. The victims were hemorrhaging from the inside and drowning in their own blood. As if the world wasn't brutal enough already, they needed a disease just as brutal as the world around them.

On top of that, there was some sort of murderer vigilante on the loose in the prison. Whoever it was, they had murdered two people that were infected, one of them being Karen. Tyreese hadn't been the same since she had been killed.

Hershel had told Daryl about a veterinary college about sixty miles away, where they may have medicine that could help their infected. Daryl was suiting up for that now. He was just outside of the prison, loading the last of the supplies they would need into Zach's old car. When he threw the last bag in, he shut the trunk and headed back toward the cell block. Before he walked in, he placed a bandana over his mouth. The contamination could be in any of the cell blocks. He didn't want to get sick while on the road, but he wanted to talk to Ruby one last time before he left.

He walked through the cell block, and made a beeline for Ruby's cell. The brunette had been angry with his at first with his decision to stay, but she had eventually accepted it, despite her displeasure with him. She had started going on runs with him, and had developed into a pretty decent shot. She had helped him bring home several survivors. He wanted to ask her to go on the run with them, he could use her while he was out there. She worked with Daryl well, but their friendship hadn't quite been the same since he had refused to go search for Annabelle and risk the lives at the prison. He still made an effort to talk to her. He didn't want to lose her as his friend.

He made his way to her cell, and knocked on the edge of the frame. "Hey." He called to her. Ruby was facing away from him when he walked in, looking at herself in the mirror. He was about to take a step into the cell when suddenly Ruby's voice came loudly and aggressively.

"Don't!" She yelled at him.

Daryl halted in his steps and did as she said. "You alright?" He asked her. The aggression in her voice was unnatural.

"Daryl, you stay away from me. Stay far away." She ordered him.

Daryl felt dread enter in the pit of his stomach as she spoke. Slowly, she turned around, and Daryl let out a breath of disbelief.

Ruby was sick. Very sick. Her skin was exceedingly pale, and her eyes were rimmed with red. There was sweat dripping down her face, and she coughed into her arm.

"Oh, shit." He said simply.

"Yeah. You're telling me." She replied hoarsely. "I've got to get down to quarantine."

Daryl nodded to her, and took several steps back away from her.

"Are you going to that vet school?" Ruby asked him.

Daryl nodded to her, and Ruby began walking slowly toward the entrance of her cell.

"Come back." She said simply to him. "And keep your promise this time."

"I'll be back." He replied. "With that medicine. You're gonna be alright."

Ruby scoffed slightly, but eventually nodded. "Stop wasting your time here on me, go." With that, she began to walk forward to head toward quarantine. Daryl took a step away from her as she walked past. She began to walk along the cat walk, and before she vanished from his view, Daryl called out to her. Guilt had begun to claw at his stomach as he had looked upon her sick form. If he had left when she wanted to leave, she would have never been exposed. She wouldn't be facing a slow, cruel death.

"Ruby." He called after her. "I'm sorry."

"For what?" She called back.

"If we had left, you never would have been exposed." Daryl replied.

Ruby turned around to look at him and met eyes with him. "This is not your fault, Daryl. Now go."

Daryl nodded to her, before he turned around and went the other way, back towards the cars. He had to get this medicine. There was no way he could fail both Miller sisters.

He went back out to the cars, and Tyreese, Bob, and Michonne were waiting for him. They climbed into Zach's car, and Daryl started the engine.

"We're gonna make this as quick as possible." He informed them. "We need to get back." Immediately after, he threw the car into first gear, and began to drive out of the prison yard.

They drove for a while longer, mostly in silence. Michonne was reading the map to him, and giving him occasional directions.

Silence penetrated the car, and Daryl reached forward toward the radio. He did this occasionally, when he was in the car. Hoping to hear something on the radio, some kind of hope that there was still someone else out there. H switched the radio to automatically scroll through ll stations to try and find a signal, and then sat back. He was used to this routine. It never worked.

They sat in silence as the radio shuffled through, and then suddenly Daryl heard static.

He immediately turned his head toward the noise. There was never static. There was just nothing.

And then he began to hear a voice. Faintly. He couldn't make out what it was saying.

Michonne looked over at Daryl urgently. She reached forward and turned up the volume on the radio, and they began to make out voices. Daryl listened desperately to the message, shocked that he was hearing it at all. There were other people out there, with technology. They were broadcasting to the world.

He couldn't make out all of it at first, it was still coming through with plenty of static. But he could make out some words. "Alive…Survive… Sanctuary."

"That's a voice!" Bob said from the back of the car. "Try and figure out what frequency it's coming through on."

He began to fiddle with the radio urgently, trying to figure out what station the message was coming through on. He began to get a clearer signal, and as he did he noticed something out of the corner of his eye on the road.

There were walkers. He swerved to miss the first one, but then there were more behind it. And then they came around the curve and Daryl saw all of them.

There were walkers everywhere. There must have been at least a thousand of them. And they began to swarm the car. They surrounded the vehicle, and Daryl felt his pulse rate increase. He slammed the car into reverse, and began backing up. He ran over several of the walkers behind the car, and they bodies began to pile up under the bottom of the car. The car jammed, and he couldn't go back anymore. The bodies underneath the car were caught in the tires.

"We're gonna have to make a break for it." He told the others in the car. "There's a gap right there. Make it through, and head for those trees. Don't stop for nothing."

They nodded at him, and Daryl jumped into action.

His side of the car was covered in walkers, so he slammed up on the sunroof, causing it to open. He popped out of the top of the car, and shot several walkers with his crossbow from there, before he pulled himself through the sunroof and out of the car. He took out any walkers that stumbled into his way and made a break for the treeline. Michonne was close behind him, and Bob followed shortly after her. Tyreese had just gotten out of the car, and was quickly being completely surrounded by walkers. Michonne and Bob looked to Daryl for what they should do, and Daryl made a judgment call. He couldn't risk all three of them to go save Tyreese, especially after Tyreese had put himself into the situation he was in now. "Come on." He told the two of them, and he charged back into the woods.

They went along for a while, killing several more walkers. They paused for a moment to catch their breath, and behind them the bushes shook.

Daryl raised his crossbow toward the trembling branches and prepared to take his shot. As he did, two walkers came stumbling out of the bushes. He was about to fire when the walker was suddenly taken down, and Tyreese appeared behind it.

Daryl nodded to the man, who returned the curt nod. Tyreese ran forward, and the four of them continued on.

* * *

They picked up a map from a gas station, and Michonne and Bob busied themselves with trying to figure out the next best route to get to the veterinary college. They were taking shelter in an abandoned house for now, while they figured out their next course of action. Tyreese was in the next room over, alone.

The man's disturbing behavior at the car had set Daryl on edge. He had waited until the last possible second to get out of car, and the only thing that had saved him had been his blind rage. That wasn't the kind of energy that Daryl wanted on this trip. He needed his people to be focused, and their mind set to the task at hand, not thinking about a situation miles away. The people at the prison needed this medicine desperately, and Tyreese's erratic behavior could set all of that into jeopardy. He needed to know that Tyreese had his back, not that he was going to bail on him or charge off at any given moment. He decided to go see if he couldn't calm the man down, or at least set his mind straight long enough to get through this run.

He walked out of the kitchen and into the living room where Tyreese was standing alone, looking out of the front window.

"Hey." Daryl greeted Tyreese as he walked up next to him.

The man briefly glanced in his direction before he spoke again. "Sorry about what happened, out in that herd." He said blankly. "Won't happen again."

Daryl looked at Tyreese, but he stayed silent. It was clear he didn't want to talk to Daryl, but Daryl didn't really care.

"You gotta be all in this, Tyreese." Daryl replied. "I need you to be on your game out there."

Tyreese turned and looked at Daryl again. "I said, it won't happen again."

"Alright brother." Daryl finally replied. The two of them stood in silence a while longer, before Daryl decided to try his luck with speaking to Tyreese again. "You know, I know how you feel. It's not easy, but you have to fight through it."

Tyreese turned to look at Daryl and gave him an incredulous look. "How could you possibly know how I feel? Karen is dead, Sasha is sick. All the people I care about are dying."

"Have you ever heard anybody at the prison talk about a girl named Annabelle?" Daryl asked Tyreese.

Tyreese looked over to Daryl. "What does this have to do with anything?"

"Hear me out." Daryl replied.

Tyreese paused for a moment. "I heard Ruby and Maggie talking about an Annabelle once." He responded.

"She was with our group, back when we were in Atlanta and when we were on Hershel's farm." Daryl replied. "I'd known her for years, since we were kids before all of this. She went missing when we had to abandon the farm."

"How does this girl have anything to do with what we were talking about?" Tyreese asked Daryl, annoyance in his voice.

"I love her." Daryl replied. Immediately, Tyreese's face changed from one of annoyance to slight guilt.

"She's been missing for almost eight months now." Daryl continued. "And I don't know if she's alive, or dead, or disfigured, or hurt. I don't anything. And to go looking for her would mean leaving all of these people behind."

Tyreese paused for a moment. "I'm sorry about that." He finally replied.

But Daryl continued. "Ruby is sick. She's Annabelle's sister. I figured if I couldn't keep Annabelle safe, I could at least keep her safe. But now I can't fight against what is killing her. I just have to find this medicine. And my brother, he's dead. Murdered by the Governor, and I put him down when he came back."

Daryl stopped talking and looked at Tyreese. "I would say I know pretty well what you're feeling. Work through it. We need this medicine, and I need you to be with me." Daryl stated. Daryl looked out the window one last time, before he turned and walked away from Tyreese. He hoped that what he had said to him would be enough to wake this man up, and get him back in the game.

* * *

RUBY

Ruby stumbled through the cell block, and the sounds of coughing filled the air. The room was thick with the stench of sickness and she could feel the pressure of despair closing in around them. Her brow was drenched with sweat, and she wiped her palm across her forehead to remove some of the condensation there, and felt her own skin's fire. This sickness was brutal.

She coughed, and it felt like boiling liquid was bouncing around in her lungs. She had yet to start coughing up blood, but she knew it was an inevitable point of what was to come.

Ruby finally reached her destination, and clung to the bars outside of the cell as she looked into it.

Sasha was sitting up in a chair, looking about as awful as Ruby felt. She turned her head to look at Ruby listlessly, and a small smirk appeared on her face when she saw who it was.

"When did you get in here?" Sasha asked Ruby.

"A couple hours ago." Ruby replied. "I heard there was a party, I had to have an invite."

Sasha let out a dry laugh at her words. "Some party, right?"

"Yeah, I'd say so." Ruby replied.

She stumbled into the cell, and sat next to Sasha. Since this woman had come to the prison, Ruby and she had developed an immediate friendship. They had a similar sense of humor, and Sasha was always up for returning Ruby's banter.

"Do you think they're gonna make it back in time, with the medicine?" Sasha asked Ruby as the brunette sat down next to her.

"It's Daryl." Ruby replied. "He'll make it back."

Sasha nodded in response. "But we just have to last until he does."

"We will." Ruby replied. "We have to make sure we stay positive. And that everyone in here stays positive as well."

"You're right."

Ruby and Sasha turned their heads as a third voice joined in the conversation. Ruby smiled slightly as she saw Hershel, standing outside of their cell.

Hershel walked into the cell, limping slightly. He pulled up a chair and sat across from the two women. "The best thing anyone can do right now is stay positive." He stated. He then rustled around in the box he had brought with him, and produced a metal canister, and two cups. He poured a reddish liquid into the cups, and handed one to each of the women. "And you can drink this." He continued.

Ruby took a sip of the drink, and shuddered slightly as she did. It was very bitter. But as it flowed down her throat, she felt the ache there begin to fade. "What is this?" She asked Hershel. She took another sip, and ignored the taste of it. The benefits it gave were well worth the bitterness.

"Elderberry tea." Hershel replied. "It's a natural flu remedy. Keep drinking this, and it should carve off some of the brutality of these symptoms, and keep your fever down."

"Thank you, Hershel." Sasha replied.

The old man nodded. "I'm going to ask something of you girls." He stated.

Ruby nodded. "What do you need?"

"I need you two to stay positive, and to keep the other people here positive too. And to help me, in caring for some of the others if you're able enough. We need to keep everyone's spirits up, and we need to make sure that we handle those that have passed quickly and with as few people seeing as possible. It'll only make their spirits darken to see that."

Ruby looked over to Sasha, and nodded to her.

"Anything you need, Hershel. You just let us know." Sasha replied.

Hershel smiled one of his small, Hershel smiles. "Thank you, girls. For now, I just want you to keep doing what you're already doing. Staying positive."

Hershel stood and walked out of the cell, and paused before he left to say one final thing. "The people here, they look up to you two. Your example could make the difference between life and death for some of these people."

* * *

ANNABELLE

Annabelle was feeling better now that she had rested for a few days. Her side was still sore, and her ankle was still in pain, but she no longer felt dizzy when she sat up in her bed, and she was beginning to get her full appetite back.

She was sitting up and reading a book when Dr. Pride entered the room. "How are you feeling today, Annabelle?" She asked.

"Better." Annabelle replied brightly as she set her book down on the nightstand next to the table.

"Well enough for a visitor?" She asked her.

"Who's here?" Annabelle questioned.

"Michael Harris is here." She replied.

Michael? The town leader? She had never spoken one on one with him before, and she had only really spoken to him when she was around town somewhere or when she went specifically to his office. He must want something if he had come all this way to see her.

"Oh. Yeah, sure. Send him in." Annabelle replied. She felt a little bit of nervousness as she replied. She didn't know what to think about him coming here to see her. She sat up a little straighter in her bed and tried to run her fingers through her hair to make herself look a little more presentable.

Dr. Pride nodded, and exited the room. A few moments later, the door opened, and Michael appeared in it. He nodded to Dr. Pride, and then he entered the room, closing the door behind him as he did.

"Hello, Annabelle." He said to kindly to her.

"Hey." She replied.

"I'm glad to see you're on the mend. You did our town a great service by going on that run."

"Just trying to help out." Annabelle replied.

"At great personal risk." Michael responded. "Every time one of us steps outside of the walls of this town, they risk their life. The courage in going out there cannot be understated. Especially in deliberately going to an area that was overrun."

Annabelle felt herself blush slightly at his praise. "Thanks." She responded.

Michael nodded, and pulled up a chair next to her bedside. "I just wanted you to know how much we all appreciate what you and the other members of your team did out there. Since that broadcast went out, we've already gathered three new survivors in just a week, and we brought back a huge weapons haul because we were able to keep in contact with our boys out there. I didn't want you to think that we didn't recognize what you did for us. I'd like to think that in the future, I could count on you to be one of the people I turn to in order to get things done."

"Of course." Annabelle replied. "You guys took me in, and saved me from being out there. I'm here with you."

"That's good to hear." Michael replied. "I want you to know that we recognize when people step up for the good of this town. You jumped right into our school and have been doing a lot of good work with those kids, and you've been helping out with doing runs. We could use more people like you around." He paused for a moment before continuing. "Logan told me that you're looking for some other people." Michael stated.

"Yes." Annabelle replied, almost breathlessly. She was interested even more now in what Michael was going to say to her.

"It's my understanding that he told you he would take you on runs so you could keep an eye out for them, find some clues as to where they may have stayed, or run into some survivors that had met them. But he told you that you couldn't take a team south until there was evidence that proved they were alive."

"That's right." Annabelle replied.

"Well, I'm going to go ahead and supersede that decision." Michael stated. "As soon as you're able to get up and moving again, I'm going to get you a team and send you South. You can look for your people down there, and give us valuable intel on hostile groups of survivors, and walker movements down south. Maybe raid some places we haven't been to yet, and bring back some valuable supplies. And bring your people back here. I'm told that this man is the one who taught you how to shoot. And if your sister is anything like you, I'm sure she'll be an asset to our society as well."

Annabelle couldn't believe what Michael had just said to her. She could go look for them. Ruby and Daryl. And she would have a whole team behind her to help her find them. This was exactly what she needed.

"Thank you." Annabelle said breathlessly. "Thank you so much."

Michael nodded his head and smiled at her just slightly. "Of course, Ms. Miller. We take care of our own here. And you've certainly proved you're one of us." He stood and touched Annabelle's arm just lightly before he left. "Feel better, Annabelle." He said to her before he exited the room.

As the door shut, Annabelle sat dazed in her bed. She couldn't believe what had just happened. She had never imagined that doing this job would be her ticket in to being accepted fully by this town. But it seems that had been the key. He heart soared at the prospect of having a team to search for her sister and brother. But she knew it still wouldn't be easy. She had come across walker herds that numbered in the hundreds when she was in the south. She had even seen one that must have been several thousands of walkers. This task would not be easy, but she was up for it.

* * *

LOGAN

The light was beginning to dim as Logan made his way into the town hall. Several of the town residents greeted him warmly as he walked by, and he patted a few of the guards on the shoulder as he passed them. He made his way through the halls quickly, and to Michael's office. He knocked once before he entered into the room.

Michael was writing something down into a notebook when Logan walked in, and Logan assumed it was his history log that he kept. They kept an official one in customs, but this was his own personal log of what happened on a daily basis. He tried to encourage Logan to keep one, but Logan wasn't much into keeping a log of his day to day personal commentary.

"You wanted to see me?" He asked Michael as he walked in.

"Yes. Take a seat, Logan." Michael said without looking up from his journal.

Logan sat down across from his friend, and as he did Michael closed the journal in front of him.

"I talked to Annabelle, today." He stated to Logan.

Logan felt his heart jump slightly at the mention of the blonde's name, but he did well to hide it from his face. He felt a responsibility to the young woman that he couldn't explain. He had been making sure that she was safe, only assigning her to runs that he himself would be on, or sending her on runs that wouldn't be a problem. He didn't want to admit that he was developing feelings for her. He would rather keep himself separated emotionally. He didn't want to get too close to anyone, people were lost too often. But after the run to the broadcast station, where he had carried a bloodied Annabelle out of the building in his arms, he had been shaken. He had seen men die around him in war, in the apocalypse. Many of them had been his friends. But he had never had someone he cared about on a deeper level be in danger like that.

"How's she doing?" Logan asked him.

"Very well. Dr. Pride told me that she'd been making great progress." Michael replied.

Logan nodded, but continued talking. "That's not why you called me in here though." Logan continued.

"No, it's not." Michael replied. "I told her that I would allow her to take a team into southern Georgia when she recovered. To look for her people and to give us some intel about that region. We haven't been back there since we escaped Atlanta in the beginning."

Logan crossed his arms at his words and breathed out a sigh. He wasn't sure how he felt about this. It was dangerous, to say the least, and they would be sending a team of men well out of where they could call them back easily if they needed to. "Are you sure about this?" Logan asked him finally.

"Yes, I'm sure. She's more than capable, and if she can find her sister and this man they could be assets to our future missions. Not to mention all of the supplies that we haven't even began to look at in southern Georgia."

"We don't know if these people are alive." Logan said simply. "It's a lot of risk for two people."

"That won't be her only objective. If she finds them, she does. If she doesn't, she doesn't. Either way, we stand to gain from this. We can find out which routes are impassable, and get some fresh knowledge on the area."

"I don't know about this." Logan responded. "It seems like a lot of risk for potentially nothing."

Michael gave him a skeptical look before he leaned back in his chair. "Just a few months ago you expressed to me that you wanted to take a group into south Georgia. We said we would do it once we had a broadcast tower. We have the tower, but now you're balking on me. What is this about, Logan?"

"I've just changed my mind. It's too dangerous, and too many people will be put at risk."

"Or do you mean that Annabelle will be put at risk?" Michael questioned Logan. "You can go with her, if it will make you feel better. Sean and I can hold it down here. And you can keep her on task."

Logan shrugged. He still didn't feel right about this.

Logan felt Michael evaluating him, and it made him feel uneasy for a moment.

"That's not what it is at all." Michael said after several moments of silence. "You don't doubt her capability. You just don't want her going anywhere near south Georgia."

"What are you trying to suggest?" Logan questioned him.

"There's no suggestion, just fact. You don't want her to find them." Michael replied. "Are you developing feelings for her?"

Logan shook his head. "No, I'm not."

"I think you are." Michael replied. "You don't want her to find this man, do you?"

Logan felt Michael's words touch a thought that he'd had in the back of his mind for some time. The idea that eventually she would move on from this Daryl, after enough time had passed. It had been almost eight months now. How long would she cling to the hope that he was alive before she tried to move on? When Logan didn't respond, Michael nodded his head in understanding.

"Logan, if you were in her position, you would want to go and look." Michael stated.

"I know." Logan finally replied.

"This is an opportunity I can't pass up, Logan. Despite how you may feel." Michael stated to him. "There aren't many people in this town that would willingly charge into one of the most dangerous parts of Georgia, and she wants to go there. I'm going to utilize her skill set and disposition, just like we do with everyone else in this town. You can decide on your own if you want to go with her, or wait here for the results of her run. You have plenty of time to decide."

It was clear that that was the end of their conversation, and Logan nodded and stood before he exited the room. He shut the door behind him, and let out a sigh. He wanted to keep Annabelle safe, and by accompanying her he would definitely do that. But he would also be aiding in her in possibly completing the one task he didn't want her to complete. Find Daryl.

He had thought that with time, without finding any hope that he was still alive, she would move on from him. And hopefully onto Logan. But he hadn't counted on Michael deciding to reward her for her hard work with this expedition. He knew he was being selfish, and he didn't like how he was behaving. He had spent his whole life being selfless, and it had never been an issue for him. But for whatever reason, he was finding it difficult to brush his personal feelings to the side. He began to walk out of the town hall and back toward his own home to go to sleep for the evening. He had already decided what he was going to do before he even left the town hall. If finding Daryl was going to make Annabelle happy, then he would help her do it. No matter what his mixed emotions were about the subject.

* * *

A/N: Thank you for reading! Annabelle and Daryl are getting very close now, it's only a short matter of time until they meet again!


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